Southern poverty rates are high and social welfare programs are ineffective. The infrastructure for health care is also poor. 120 U.S. rural hospitals closed last year; 75 of these were in the South. Data from several cities and states show that the rate at which blacks are dying and contracting the virus is disproportionately high. Due to poverty and lack of access to healthcare, African Americans are more likely have underlying conditions such as asthma, diabetes, heart disease and hypertension that can increase their risk of dying from COVID-19. Additionally, African Americans are more likely to work in frontline jobs that make social isolation impossible. Professor at Georgia State University’s School of Public Health, Dr. Harry Heiman said that the South will be hard hit because African Americans are expected be hard hit. “There is no way around it.” However, he and other advocates of low-income people believe that it’s still possible for South’s elected leaders to implement policies that would significantly improve the region’s chances of recovery. Medicaid politics Every advocate has a top priority: expanding Medicaid. Nineteen of the 14 states refusing federal money to expand the low-income health care plan to thousands of people are located in the South, which includes Mississippi, where Governor. According to a Harvard University study, Tate Reeves said that the coronavirus crisis has not changed his opposition to Medicaid expansion. This would allow the federal government to pay 90% of the cost and provide health insurance for hundreds of thousands of low-income individuals. They wrote that there is no time in recent history more crucial than the moment to strengthen Medicaid. “Covering more Medicaid beneficiaries is a quick way to bring resources into the health system and infuse federal funds into state economies that are on the brink of major downturn,” they wrote. He suggested that federal stimulus money could be used in the interim to help pay a portion of the costs. A spokeswoman for Republican Governor. According to The Anniston Star, Kay Ivey’s office stated that “all options are on hand” and that “expand Medicaid requires a stable source for revenue to pay the state match. The other thing is that Southern governors have been resisting Medicaid expansion for over a decade. They have either refused to speak out since the crisis started or have reaffirmed their opposition against federal funding. State advocates urge Southern governors to request federal permission to expand Medicaid to low-income individuals. This will allow people who are eligible for Medicaid to enroll and remain enrolled, and also allows for more doctors and other medical professionals in the area to offer services under the program. The NAACP and other advocates for African Americans call on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to release more data about COVID-19 deaths and cases by race to help inform a better public health response. Some states and cities have already begun to release more data. Both local and national public health officials call for more testing and extensive public outreach in low-income urban black communities. They also want to see more money for personal protective gear such as face masks for frontline workers. This will help stop the spread of the virus. Historical inequalities Fifty-eight per cent of African Americans reside in the South and the District of Columbia. The highest proportions of black residents in the country are found in Southern states. Heiman stated that the region is at high risk due to high rates of chronic diseases and long-standing policies in many Southern states that restrict access to health care for low-income residents. Heiman stated that there is a tragic combination in the South, with populations at higher risk of developing coronavirus infections due to their socioeconomic and medical status. This is combined with rural areas and urban communities lacking the necessary health care infrastructure. According to Kaiser Family Foundation research, this is combined with the highest rates of uninsured in the country. These people are bus drivers, grocery shop workers, police officers, and other frontline workers who can’t isolate. The report stated that many of them live in substandard, overcrowded housing, which contributes to the spread and spread of the disease.
However, even though it was clear that the South could not escape the virus, the Trump administration declared the coronavirus crises a national emergency on March 13. Governors waited for weeks before closing down their businesses. Many Southern states have looser restrictions on business than other areas of the country, and the messages that are being sent to the public are unclear. Alabama Governor Ivey waited until April 4, to close down certain businesses and tell residents to stay home. Georgia’s Republican Governor. Brian Kemp issued a limited stay at-home order on April 2nd, and his administration the next day informed local officials who had shut down their beaches to reopen them. Governor. Reeves’ order requiring people to stay at home until April 20 was in effect April 3. Arkansas’ Republican Governor. Asa Hutchinson refuses to issue a stay at-home order. He explained to PBS NewsHour that his state is taking a targeted approach in limiting the spread. The state remains open to business, although schools and shops, including bars, restaurants and tattoo parlors, as well as barber shops, hair salons and barber shops, are now closed. Hutchinson stated, “We want things that actually work” and make a real difference. “And our social distancing and our wearing of masks is what’s working in Arkansas.” Racial disparities The vulnerability of those living in poverty was exposed by Hurricane Katrina, which brought out the health disparities among the New Orleanians who were ravaged by the 2005 storm. Many of these issues are already being highlighted by the coronavirus epidemic. Nearly 60% of coronavirus-related deaths in the District of Columbia are caused by black residents. As of April 6, Louisiana’s African Americans make up 32% of the population, and over 70% of all coronavirus-related deaths. Early data from April 8 showed that black Mississippians account for 56 percent of state’s COVID-19-related deaths and 72 percent. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, more than 25% of Americans are low-wage, while only 16 percent of whites are affected. They are at higher risk of income loss and virus exposure. Prior to the crisis, 23 per cent of blacks had incomes below the federal poverty line, compared with 10 percent for whites. Heiman stated that African Americans are already losing more jobs than the rest of society due to the crisis. This will reduce their chances of recovering. Racial health disparities in many Southern states are striking. Alabama has the third highest maternal death rate in the country. Black women are more likely to die than white women in Alabama. Black residents are lower in all other indicators of overall health than whites. Nationally, African Americans are more likely to be obese, have high levels of heart disease, hypertension and diabetes than the rest of the population. Long-standing policies in the South that have prevented many African Americans from accessing health care are making matters worse. Jim Carnes, policy director at Alabama Arise, stated that poverty and poor health in Alabama are the result of decades of racist policies that have denied people of color access to health care.