Thread by @DrLeanaWen

Testifying now to U.S. House of Representatives Select Subcommittee on #Coronavirus Crisis, on how #covid19 has unmasked long-standing health disparities among African-Africans & other minorities, who now bear the greatest brunt of this pandemic coronavirus.house.gov/news/press-rel… (1/9)

The problems of structural racism & systemic inequities are huge and cannot be solved overnight. But there are concrete actions that can be taken now.

I outline four in my oral testimony. Full written testimony to be posted on @COVIDOversight coronavirus.house.gov/subcommittee-a…. (2/9)

1. The federal government must target public health resources to minority and underserved communities. This includes targeted testing with a real-time dashboard for testing & contact tracing  + providing free housing for those who need to self-isolate. (3/9)

2. The federal government must ensure that there are clear, directive guidelines to protect workers. As a former local health official, I depended on @CDCgov for unambiguous guidance when I dealt with measles, Ebola, and Zika. Something has changed--this needs be reformed. (4/9)

3. The federal government needs to implement a national strategy to prepare for the next surge. It is a national shame that we ran out of masks and other #PPE to protect our healthcare workers. There was no excuse last time, and even less of an excuse moving forward. (5/9)

4. Congress must provide further support for local public health. @CDCgov funding for public health preparedness has been cut by half over the last decade. Treating #covid19 should not come at the expense of preventing cardiovascular disease and reducing overdose deaths. (6/9)

Longer-term, there must be attention to how health disparities are inextricably linked to housing instability, food deserts & lack of transportation access. And there needs to be recognition of the fact that racism is a public health issue—indeed a public health crisis. (7/9)

Lack of action will affect everyone, but it's people of color & those who face systemic disparities who will suffer the most. We have already lost 109,000 Americans from #covid19, disproportionately black and brown people. How many more will die because of our inaction? (8/9)

The late Rep. Elijah Cummings said, "Our children who are messengers to a future that we will never see."

That future should be one in which the currency of inequality no longer equals years of life, & what race people happen to be no longer determines whether they live. (9/9)