Ending the Diabetes-COVID Disaster
Overview of Excess, Preventable COVID Diabetes Deaths in New York City, New York State and the Nation
When Loretta Fleming, a South Bronx public housing resident with diabetes, took local self-management classes after years of failed efforts at trying to better control her diabetes, she was able to reduce her A1C (a blood sugar measure) from a near lethal 11% to 6.5%. She knew that by doing this she was slashing her risks for kidney failure, amputation and a range of other diabetes –related complications; what she didn’t know is that she was also slashing her risk for the worst outcomes -including death, ICU stays and ongoing illness -if she contracted COVID. By the time the COVID epidemic emerged, Loretta herself had become a diabetes community educator, helping hundreds of people in the area of the city which would have the city’s worst COVID infection rate -and greatest threat for people