On Answering the Call to Action for COVID-19: Continuing a Bold Legacy of Health Advocacy

The indelible impacts on our nation from the Coronavirus pandemic along with high fatality rates that disproportionately burden racial and ethnic minorities necessitate long-term coordinated federal, state and local action to improve critical determinants of population health, specifically important health and public health infrastructures as well as emergency and disaster preparedness systems. While our purview as the new pandemic epicenter should be a sufficient driver, coordinated health professionals bringing thoughtful attention to our historical context may be warranted. Prompting our advocacy should be the reality that our collective ability to rebound from such crises may ultimately hinge on protecting and equipping our most vulnerable racial-ethnic minority groups and any susceptible individuals within those populations. Recent historic firsts on behalf of racial and ethnic minorities taken by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, through the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Office of Minority Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in response to COVID-19, if proven effective, should be considered for permanency within policy, practice and funding. In addition, given the complex history of Black Americans in this country and persistent and substantial Black-white disparities on health and economic measures across the board, the ultimate solution for improving the health and status Black Americans may look slightly different. Influenced by the 400th year anniversary of the first documented arrival of unfree Africans in North America in 1619, as well as the introduction of bills S.1080 and H.R.40 into Congress (The Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act), some kind of reparations for Black Americans might serve as the logical starting point for further advocacy. Nevertheless, we remain supportive allies of all organizations concerned with communities who suffer the weight of this pandemic and any future world health disasters. What is additionally needed is a thoughtful unification of efforts and a commitment to sustained progress with measurable results for as long as the need exists and certainly for the foreseeable future. Let us as humane clinicians and public health professionals capture this moment of challenge and follow through on this urgent call to action.