Martinez had been working on other national task forces, including with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and with the secretary of health and human services. He also has been working with the chair of the task force, Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, associate professor of medicine and epidemiology at the Yale School of Medicine, on how to increase the number of minorities working in health care.
Martinez will continue to be the executive director of the Hogg Foundation while working on the COVID-19 health equity task force, which he s been told could last for a few weeks or up to two years. He will use vacation time and personal time to for task force work.
NPR
The COVID-19 pandemic is hitting communities of color the hardest across Texas. The state office that could have played a pivotal role in identifying and reducing health disparities in minority communities was defunded in 2017.
Now, many advocates and experts are calling on lawmakers to reinstate and revive the office during the ongoing 2020 legislative session.
What were the previous responsibilities of this office, when it was open? What were its measures of success?
Did all efforts to tackle Texas minority health disparities cease when the office was defunded? What are the implications of failing to understand and address these issues?
Commentary: As COVID kills Blacks and Latinos, Texas shutters health equity office
Octavio N. Martinez Jr., For the Express-News
Jan. 24, 2021
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Texas reports race and ethnicity data for a mere 3 percent of its COVID-19 cases. Data drives policy.Billy Calzada / Staff photographer
It’s become accepted wisdom at this point: The coronavirus is not a colorblind adversary. Ten months into the pandemic, it bears repeating: This pandemic is unequivocally hitting communities of color the hardest.
Data clearly show that vulnerable communities in Texas, especially Black and Latino communities who already face disproportionate instances of diabetes, kidney disease and other chronic illnesses are more likely to experience negative outcomes if infected by the virus.