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COVID-19 numbers show the pandemic has hit Black and Brown people hard. The coronavirus is about three times more likely to put African-American and Latino people in the hospital and they are twice as likely than whites to die from COVID. The reasons for this disparity are as old as they are complex. Inequities in health care are rooted in the historical racism of our institutions. They are part of the reason some people of color don’t trust public health efforts or the healthcare industry in general.
In this episode, Us & Them host Trey Kay speaks with Black West Virginians fighting to keep their community healthy during the pandemic.
In March 2020, days before any ‘stay at home’ orders and before we used the term ‘super spreader event’, Romelia Hodges attended a packed church celebration in Marion County. Two weeks later several of Hodges’ friends were ill from the coronavirus and some died, including 88-year-old Viola Horton, West Virginia’s first COVID-19 death.
For decades Rev. Matthew Watts has warned about health disparities between Black West Virginians and white residents. He says it’s been hard to get people to listen and even harder to encourage action. Watts believes COVID-19 can be a catalyst for systemic change so that everyone is well served during the pandemic and once it’s behind us.
This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation and the West Virginia Humanities Council.
Subscribe to Us & Them on Apple Podcasts, NPR One, RadioPublic, Spotify, Stitcher and beyond. You also can listen to Us & Them on WVPB Radio — tune in on the fourth Thursday of every month at 8 p.m., with an encore presentation on the following Saturday at 3 p.m.
