Critical Race Theory as Pandemic Response? California Requires 'Equity' to Ease Lockdowns
“Our entire state has come together to redouble our efforts to reduce the devastating toll COVID-19 has had on our Latino, Black and Pacific Islander communities,” Acting State Public Health Officer Dr. Erica Pan
said in a statement. “This isn’t just a matter of higher cases in these communities – it is an issue of life and death that is hurting all Californians.”
“An all-community, cross-sector approach to work together to slow the transmission of COVID in all populations will help ensure we reopen our economy safely, protect our essential workers, and support our local partners,” Pan added.
What does “equity” in terms of race have to do with slowing the spread of a pandemic? Shouldn’t the government and public health agencies focus on the virus, rather than whether patients are black, white, or Asian? Shouldn’t counties be able to lift lockdown restrictions as quickly as it is safely possible in order to facilitate economic recovery?
Rather than moving California closer to reopening, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) has added even more red tape to the process.
According to the
health department website, counties with a population greater than 106,000 must “Ensure that the test positivity rates in its most disadvantaged neighborhoods, as defined as being in the lowest quartile of the Healthy Places Index census tracts, do not significantly lag behind its overall county test positivity rate.”
The Equity Metric requires counties to “submit a plan that (1) defines its disproportionately impacted populations, (2) specifies the percent of its COVID-19 cases in these populations, and (3) shows that it plans to invest Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Prevention and Control of Emerging Infectious Diseases… grant funds at least at that percentage to interrupt disease transmission in these populations.”