The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated pre-existing racial healthcare disparities. In an attempt to lessen those disparities, the foundation partnered with the Public Health Madison and Dane County to promote community COVID-19 safety education, mask distribution, expanded testing and quality care and access for highly impacted communities, Stevenson said.
According to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, communities of color experience higher rates of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths. Though Black residents make up only 6.4% of the state’s population, they account for a total of 11.8% of COVID-19 hospitalizations.
A cause for this disparity is the stress and tension Black individuals face in their daily lives due to societal inequities, which McGranahan said can impact their immune system through epigenetics.