Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware praised Delaware health officials for adding race to information for those testing positive from coronavirus.
The group earlier noted that Delaware is one of many states that has yet to release demographic data on the race or ethnicity of people who’ve tested positive for COVID-19.
Early national data has shown that a disproportionate percentage of people dying from coronavirus are African Americans.
Delaware has seen a “hotspot” in coronavirus cases in neighborhoods in the New Castle area, including the Route 9 corridor, an area with high poverty rates and a large population of African Americans.
“We are glad to see that Delaware is finally taking steps to collect data on race as this disease is disproportionally impacting communities of color across the country. As we see this unfortunate reality take hold, we call on Governor (John) Carney to implement a proactive, educational program around safety that targets communities of color to combat the discrepancies in health outcomes. The governor has the opportunity to lead the State before we see this trend occur, and we urge him to take it, stated Chris Coffey, campaign manager for the group.
“We know that historically, African American communities have limited access to health resources, testing, prevention and treatment,” said Pastor Dale Dennis of Hoyt Memorial CME in Wilmington. “We need to ensure that more is being done to combat this illness, especially in communities that are more gravely impacted. We call on Governor Carney to protect communities of color and those that are most vulnerable to this disease. Without the data, an information gap is likely to continue and prevent states like Delaware from providing equitable services to communities with existing health disparities.”
The issue of racial disparities surfaced in a press-conference briefing held by the governor, health and emergency management officials.
It was announced that the state will require racial identification on order forms for coronavirus testing. Private firms that have handled testing left off such information.
Officials also announced that of the 16 Delawareans who died of complications from coronavirus, 13 were white and three were of color.
On Good Friday, the Division of Public Health did not immediately respond to a request for the racial make-up of additional Delawareans who died from the virus.
Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware describes itself as a group of employees from TransPerfect, a translation and business services company and other concerned citizens.
The group has been pushing for reforms in Chancery Court system and highlighting what it sees as racial disparities in the Delaware legal system.
TransPerfect underwent a dispute between its 50-50 owners that led to Chancery Court appointing a receive that opted to have Philip Shawe buy out Elizabeth Elting’s share.
Shawe continues to claim the Chancery Court-appointed receiver, appointed during the ownership dispute, continues to bill the company while not specifying the services provided.
