Addressing COVID-19 with Dr José Romero

OUR SHOT AT A HEALTHIER STATE

BY BRITTANY DESMUKE

ON MARCH 11, 2020, Pine Bluff, Arkansas, became ground zero for the state’s first case of COVID-19.

Seven days later, 107 Arkansans had experienced the same fate.

Dr. José Romero, Arkansas Secretary of Health, was less than surprised to learn that the virus had reached the Natural State.

“It was only a matter of time before Arkansas would be involved in the pandemic,” he said.

And he wasn’t wrong.

Since COVID-19 was first detected in Wuhan, China in December 2019, the virus had quickly crept into the United States the following January. Unfortunately, not only was the virus swift, but it was deadly.

To date, Arkansas has seen nearly 500,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 8,000 deaths. Nationwide, more than 40 million cases have been reported and nearly 700,000 people have died from the virus.

COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that first appeared in China.

The virus causes mild to severe symptoms ranging from coughing, fever and chills, nausea and vomiting to trouble breathing, persistent chest pain and the inability to stay awake.

Based on data gathered throughout the pandemic, researchers have found that minority populations are disproportionately impacted by COVID19. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), minorities are five times more likely to contract the virus, ten times more likely to be hospitalized from the virus and seven times more likely to die from the virus than their white counterparts.

“The reason is multifactorial,” said Dr. Romero. “One of the major reasons is long-standing and pervasive healthcare disparities. Racial and ethnic minority populations in Arkansas and for that matter, throughout the United States, have suffered from lack of adequate access to healthcare.

Because of this, chronic medical conditions like diabetes, hypertension and obesity are not treated or well-controlled. These conditions are known to be risk factors for the development of severe COVID-19 following infection with SARS-CoV-2. Inadequate access to healthcare also means that these populations cannot avail themselves as rapidly as nonminority populations of medical care/treatment. Therefore, their illness is more advanced by the time they are seen, further increasing the risk of poor outcome.” According to Romero, other factors that lead to disproportionate outcomes for these communities include little or no health insurance, poor health literacy, language barriers, mistrust of the medical system, and overrepresentation in jobs that increase exposure to and risk of being infected by COVID-19. To help combat the CDC’s statistics, the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) developed targeted messaging to stress the importance of mask wearing, social distancing, hand washing and taking the COVID-19 vaccine. In addition, ADH partnered with community and faith-based organizations, leaders and influencers within minority communities to help push the message of prevention and inform groups of the importance of getting vaccinated to help slow the spread of the virus. The Arkansas Minority Health Commission (AMHC) also made the pivot to address the COVID-19 pandemic by creating and sharing plain language and culturally relevant facts sheets, adding a COVID-19 information page to its website, and providing non-profits, churches, individuals and families with masks and hand sanitizers.

Once the commission received Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security, or CARES funding, it was able to cast its net wider to increase media messaging and provide minority communities with cleaning supplies, COVID-19 education, personal protection equipment (PPE), food, and funding for funeral expenses. AMHC also hired and trained community health workers to go into communities of need to provide health screenings and COVID-19 testing. From November to December in 2020, AMHC was able to provide more than 30,000 COVID tests and impact 50 Arkansas counties.

In addition, the commission teamed up with Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield to drive its Mobile Health Unit into communities of need and provide COVID-19 testing, vaccines and wellness checks.

“COVID-19 directly affects the communities we serve and so though it is an infectious disease, it requires our full attention,” said Este Frazier, interim director of AMHC. “We are grateful for the many partners and community leaders we work with who are just as dedicated and just as committed to seeing these numbers go down as we are.” Even with all the work being done by these community organizations and agencies, there is still a long way to go before the COVID-19 pandemic can come to an end. “Worldwide, COVID-19 continues to rage,” said Romero. “… Until the COVID-19 pandemic is controlled worldwide, the United States will be at risk for the introduction of new SARSCoV-2 and the COVID-19 pandemic will continue for the foreseeable future. Access to COVID vaccines by the rest of the world is essential to ending this pandemic. These must be effective and affordable.”

Romero has and continues to stress the need for vaccinations, especially as Arkansas data shows more than 90% of hospitalizations and deaths are in those who have not received the vaccine.

“COVID-19 vaccines have proven to be effective and safe,” Romero said. “They are widely available at sites throughout the state and our supply is sufficient to provide all Arkansans with the vaccine. Please get vaccinated.” For trustworthy information about COVID-19 and the vaccine, visit the CDC, Harvard Medical School and Johns Hopkins University online at the following links: www.cdc. gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html, www.health.harvard. edu/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-basics, and www. hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/ coronavirus.