Shortly after Mardi-Gras, when there was still conflicting information coming from the White House about the seriousness of the disease, the coronavirus spread through Louisiana.
Due to the lack of access to quality care, widespread underlying conditions, spread of medical myths, and their presence on the front lines, Louisiana’s Black population was hit especially hard.
Louisiana is 32.8 percent Black. Black people, however, currently make up 52.42 percent of Covid-19 deaths. Louisiana is one of four states that have not released race data about confirmed cases overall.
Once the coronavirus took hold, it spread among populations already suffering from underlying conditions.
Dr. Earl Benjamin-Robinson, deputy director of the Office of Community Partnerships and Health Equity (CPHE) at the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH), said that there were concerns before the virus hit Louisiana. He explained that in countries with many cases of the coronavirus, it was the individuals with chronic health issues who had suffered the most. This adumbrated a nasty situation for the state as diabetes, hypertension and heart disease are highly prevalent in Louisiana’s Back communities. In 2019, about 17.7 percent of Black people reported having a diabetes diagnosis and about 392 people per 100,000 died from a cardiovascular disease.
According to Benjamin-Robinson, when Louisiana was closed down to avoid the virus’s spread, a large number of the essential workers were low-income and POC. That means the people most likely to suffer greatly from the coronavirus were also being put in positions where they were most likely to contract it.
Dr. Eric Griggs, community medicine director at Access Help Louisiana, said that advances in Covid-19 knowledge and telemedicine have improved the situation on the ground somewhat. Healthcare workers are now aware of the benefits of prone positioning for coronavirus patients and many patients can be treated without even going to the hospital.
In Louisiana, despite the recent slow-down in new cases, there are concerns for what might come if a tropical storm or hurricane makes landfall in the middle of the pandemic. The Pelican State is hit by an average of two tropical storms and one hurricane every three years.
“We are aware that some of the individuals disproportionately affected by Covid-19 will likely be disproportionately affected by hurricane season,” Benjamin-Robinson said.
According to Griggs, there is a dichotomy between the message of quarantining to stay safe from the coronavirus and evacuating to be safe from a hurricane.
Therefore, conversations are being had within the LDH to make sure that the state is, “not putting all of one’s eggs and resources in one basket to deal with Covid,” according to Benjamin-Robinson. The state acknowledged that they might need resources and capital to deal with the next natural disaster as well.
There are also concerns that come fall, Covid-19 will be back with a vengeance. The flu, which itself kills 35,000 to 50,000 people a year, will only compound the problem.
The state has been adamant about flattening the curve and making sure that hospitals are not overwhelmed when the second wave comes. These efforts worked to a point, but it is unclear how hard the next wave will hit.
The idea that this pandemic will “disappear” or “go away” on its own, as the president has claimed on multiple occasions, is a myth.
Around the beginning of the outbreak in the state, rumors were circulating that Black people were not affected by the virus. Myths, Griggs said, can translate into an unnecessary loss of life. In a time when little is known, and science has not caught up to the spread of the disease, people seeking answers tend to make up their own.
Griggs said he had no idea how the myth was started, only that it was dangerous.
Luckily, organizations like LCHON, the Louisiana Community Health Outreach Network, have been working to dispel these harmful myths. LCHON works to convey coronavirus information via trusted community leaders like Catherine Haywood, instead of relying on the information to flow from the government and health officials.
Haywood, the executive director of LCHON, started working with the community 30 years ago, when the focus was on disseminating information about HIV and AIDS. She recalled sitting in the St. Thomas Development housing project and speaking with residents to gain their trust.
As a Black woman, she said, she knew that there was a mistrust between the Black population and the government. The legwork of community workers such as herself was as necessary then to spread information about AIDS as it is now to spread information about Covid-19.
Although social media is everywhere, talking face to face, albeit at a distance and with masks on, is still the best way to get information out.
“All we can do is attempt to educate, constantly. Because it is a constant thing,” Haywood said. “You can’t stop talking to people.”