Are We Serious About Widespread Testing for COVID-19?

Redefining Normal During COVID19: Attending to the threat of Backlash August 14, 2020

By Crystal M. James, JD, MPH and Edward Leon Robinson, Jr, Ph.D The United States is battling a pandemic due to the community spread of SARS-COV2, the virus that causes COVID19. News and information dominating most major communication outlets are justifiably focused on the issues and impacts of this disease that is disproportionately causing more mortality for Black and Brown communities. More research and culturally tailored interventions are necessary to better understand how black communities determine the trustworthiness of and attend to these messages. Taking up this important call, Tuskegee University will be leading a National Science Foundation-funded research project to cultivate and learn the multiple ways in which Black communities comprehend and transfer public health information within their communities.

As more information is learned about SARS-COV2 and its long term impacts, the risk factors that make Black and Brown communities more vulnerable to the outbreak are also becoming clearer. Chronic diseases (Heart Disease, Cancers, Diabetes, etc.) play a significant role in more severe illnesses and death due to COVID19. Thus, the epidemic reveals systematic inequalities that exist for people living in poverty, which limits access to nutritious food sources, health care, and preventive care. Black and Brown people, who are over-represented in these statistics, play a critical role in the alarming death rates for COVID19. This must be addressed.

Historically, Black families have championed education as a means to elevate themselves out of poverty. Health metrics show that financial security is positively correlated with better health outcomes. The convergence in college completion between men and women in the United States is the culmination of a long process of educational advance led by younger women. An earlier report noted that young women aged 25 to 29 began to have higher college attainment rates than young men in 1996.1 Over the next two decades, black women earned the distinction of being the most highly educated of all ethnic groups. According to a report from the National Center for Education Statistics published in 2016, â&#x20AC;&#x153;across all racial/ethnic groups, female students earned 1 Nicole Stoops (2003), Educational Attainment in the United States. Washington, DC, U.S. Census Bureau, 2004. <www.census .gov/prod/2004pubs/p20-550.pdf

the majority of certificates, associate’s degrees, and bachelor’s degrees. For example, the shares of bachelor’s degrees earned by female students were 64 percent for Black students, 61 percent for American Indian/Alaska Native students, 60 percent for Hispanic students, 59 percent for students of Two or more races, 56 percent for White students, and 54 percent for Asian/Pacific Islander students”.2 The Tuskegee University research project looks to discern how education and information filter into minority communities. If women of color are outpacing men in educational attainment, one of the leading factors of the research project is to see whether the new educated class of women is critical to the spread of needed health information flowing into minority communities. Women of color have traditionally been entrusted with the caretaker roles in minority communities. The National Science Foundation-funded project could lead to critical knowledge on how to better transmit information concerning COVID19 and other health issues to minority communities.

Figure 1

Percentage Point Difference Between Bachelor's Degree Attainment of Women and Men Aged 25 to 34, by Race and Hispanic Origin: 1976 to 2015 (3-Year Running Average) Percentage point difference favoring women 10 8Women more likely than men to have degree 6 4 2 0

-2 -4

Black Hispanic

-6

Women less likely than men to have degree

-8

Asian

White, non-Hispanic -10 197519801985199019952000

2005

2010

2015

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2015 Current Population Survey.

2 Accessed June 29, 2020: https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=72

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2019). Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Groups 2018(NCES 2019-038), Degrees Awarded.

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Although Black and Brownâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s educational attainment has been on the rise, their ability to rise out of poverty and remain has been harder to maintain. For example, first-generation college students amass significant debt on top of family economic sacrifices to access institutions of higher learning. Working in federal competitive service positions many times allows students to have loans forgiven due to their public service occupational status. Recently, the Executive Order on Modernizing and Reforming the Assessment and Hiring of Federal Job Candidates signed by the 45th President of the United States on June 26, 2020, highlights a subtle and threatening backlash to the role education can play in fighting against COVID19. The President signed an executive order which is considered law that in Secton (1) directs important, merit-based reforms that will replace degree-based hiring with skills and competency-based hiring. As people of color make educational strides, the rules have changed from educational merit to perceived skill-based competencies limiting the progress minorities have made in attaining college degrees and moving out of poverty.

As the Tuskegee University research project looks to understand to the health messages within minority communities that are pertinent to reducing the spread of COVID19, research projects, like this one, can also underscore the structural changes that are being made to ensure that the poor people remain disenfranchised from the attainment of wealth and job security that federal competitive service jobs provide. Reflecting on the pains and gains of the signing of the Voting Rights Bill of 1965, Dr. Martin L. King, Jr stated â&#x20AC;&#x153;Each step forward accents an ever-present tendency to backlashâ&#x20AC;?.3 The President's Executive Order is a clear effort to minimize the gains of people of color who have made the necessary sacrifices to advance in the race towards economic security to once again have the finish line moved and blurred. When economic opportunities are moved so are the stakes for healthy communities. We must exercise all legal and political remedies to ensure this effort is not successful.

Crystal M. James, JD, MPH Special Assistant to the President for COVID19 Recovery Tuskegee University College of Veterinary Medicine Head, Dept. Graduate Public Health (DGPH) Associate Professor, DGPH Edward Leon Robinson, Jr, Ph.D Instructor of African Americans Studies California State University Indignant Dignity: Black Lives Matter in Early Black Writing (Forthcoming, 2021)

3 King, Martin L., Where do we go from here: Chaos or Community? Beacon Press, Boston, MA., 1968

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