PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — A group of Palm Beach County doctors are teaming up to help make sure communities of color have the resources to fight COVID-19.
“Right now we are trying to get people masks and get people information,” Dr. McCalla said.
Dr. McCalla is one of many medical professionals on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Part of the issue is that most places don’t test and most places don’t put it into race,” she said.
Dr. McCalla says a growing concern is how communities of color are being impacted by the spread COVID-19.
“You know fast-forward two or three weeks and now we see that the people dying most of COVID are people of color,” she said.
President Donald Trump saying in a Tuesday evening news conference that the statistics could get worse.
“There’s a real problem and it’s showing up very strongly in our data on the African- American community,” the President said.
According to the Florida Department of Health on April 7th minorities made up 59 percent of the total COVID-19 deaths even though they make up around 48 percent of the population in Florida according to the Federal Government.
“This is primarily because of some of the discrepancies we already see in healthcare some of those are like Hypertension, Diabetes,” Dr. McCalla said.
This weekend Dr. McCalla and the T. Leroy Jefferson Medical Society will give out masks to people who need them in Riviera Beach and West Palm Beach.
“Those disparities are just more prodeminet and in everyones mind in the midst of a crisis,” Dr. McCalla said. “This didn’t start this month or this year and unless we all are aggressive at fixing it it won’t be fixed this year or next year.”