Austin Officials Urge Higher Coronavirus Testing For Minorities
AUSTIN, TX — City council members representing portions of East Austin — historically an enclave populated by Black and Hispanic residents — are calling for bolstered efforts to bolster vaccines for the coronavirus in those neighborhoods, officials revealed Tuesday.
To that end, council members Natasha Harper-Madison, Vanessa Fuentes, Sabino “Pio” Renteria and Greg Casar wrote a letter outlining such plans, noting each was working closely with Austin Public Health to enhance vaccine delivery to minorities disproportionately affected by the respiratory illness.
"As Black and brown leaders in this community, we are committed to getting as many people vaccinated as possible," city council members wrote. "It is also our responsibility to ensure the city focuses especially on those communities of color who have been hardest hit by the virus."
At a recent Q&A session with members of the local media — weekly gatherings during which reporters can ask questions of Austin Public Health officials — Patch asked for details on methods of getting the vaccine to vulnerable minority populations. Austin Public Health Director Stephanie Hayden answered that an effort was made to install testing sites at neighborhoods of high concentration of minorities.
City council members referenced such efforts in their letter, but suggested the tactic was not sufficient: "That is a big reason why the city established its major vaccination sites in East Austin. But we know this is not enough. National and local data show that people of color are not receiving an equitable share of vaccines, considering the greater impact the virus has had on people of color. We cannot fully resolve this crisis until we guarantee that this life-saving vaccine is accessible to the residents COVID impacts the most."
As a result: "We are advocating for this to be addressed, swiftly and diligently," city council members wrote. "We are working with Austin Public Health on the following strategies to address this challenge."
City council members outlined various steps to reach that goal:
Direct outreach to hard-hit communities that have barriers easily signing up for vaccines online. Austin Public Health set up an outreach team and recently expanded it to 15 people making phone calls to populations that are most vulnerable to the virus. They will be reaching out to people directly who may not know how to sign up for the vaccine. We are also pushing to make the technology for online sign-ups more user-friendly and efficient. That way, our nursing hotline is available to help those in most need, rather than being overrun by technology questions.
Conduct public information campaigns to make sure our communities know the vaccine is safe. APH has recently set up contracts with 8 community groups to do public education on the vaccine. Contracts were just executed this week, and we support expanding this work as needed.
More coordination with clinics and centers that serve lower-income people. Recent city data for 10,466 vaccine doses show that only 3 percent of those vaccines reached Black Austinites (although they are 7.5 percent of the over-65 population). 20 percent of those vaccines reached Latino Austinites (who are 18 percent of the over-65 population, though Latinos have been amongst the most affected by hospitalizations and deaths). Importantly, these 10,466 doses do not include data from vaccination days where community clinics worked to reach out to their clients to encourage them to get appointments with APH. Preliminary data indicates that much higher numbers of people of color got access to the vaccine when there was coordination with these clinics. For example, preliminary data from our coordination with Lone Star Circle of Care seems to show African Americans getting 9 percent of the vaccine and Latinos around 35 percent. Upcoming data from CommUnity Care shows a greater reach into communities of color as well. We are working to expand this promising strategy.
Prioritize high-risk individuals and those with fewer options to keep themselves safe. With limited supply from the federal government, we must ensure that high-risk people get the vaccine, whether or not they have insurance or a primary care physician. Recently, Dallas County attempted to set aside vaccines for specific high-risk communities, but their plan was rejected by the state, who threatened to withhold vaccines from the County. If we are to keep our community safe and healthy, we must be committed to strategies that will serve our most vulnerable, while ensuring our continued supply of vaccines from the state.
"Austin has a host of issues it must confront to truly be the community we all want it to be," officials wrote. "The COVID-19 pandemic has been a tremendous burden on all of us and has highlighted the inequities that our communities of color have faced for too long. We must get all of us - but especially our most marginalized neighbors - through this crisis, so we can continue our long-term goal of expanding access to opportunity and prosperity for all in Austin."
According to a statistical dashboard maintained by Austin Public Health, there have been a cumulative 65,507 confirmed cases of the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, with 5,401 active cases. All told 631 residents of Travis County have died of the respiratory illness.
As of Monday, 46 percent of those contracting the virus have been Hispanic — despite being less than 34 percent of the population of Travis County, as census figures show. Among all cases, the data show 8 percent have been diagnosed in the black community which comprises 8.9 percent of the population. White residents comprising nearly 80 percent of the county population represent 57 percent of all coronavirus cases in Travis County to date, according to the dashboard.
This article originally appeared on the Austin Patch
