Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams released the following statement calling for the creation of a task force after new data showed the racial disparity in the impact of the COVID-19 public health crisis in New York City.
"As new data continues to show the disparate impact of the COVID-19 crisis on people and communities of more color, the immense toll of the virus on black and brown communities, we need clear vision, targeted expertise, and immediate action. The administration's recently announced efforts at expanded outreach are welcome but weeks late, and much more is required. "The city needs a task force of experts in place to coordinate both the immediate response to and the long-term recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic in the communities of color that are being hardest hit. Rather than oversee a protracted process, this group would rapidly implement an action plan in real time to mitigate racial disparities in COVID-19 exposure, testing, access to resources, and fatalities. "I am pursuing legislation to create such a task force, but the time it will take to enact this law is time that the communities of more color that are being devastated by this crisis, the people who are deemed essential but treated as expendable, just don't have. I'm calling on the Mayor to immediately convene the necessary experts with an urgent and clear directive: strengthen communities and save lives."
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