Federal Agency Vows to Clear COVID-19 Inequalities

NEW YORK (AP) — The nation's top public health agency has released a new strategy for dealing with the coronavirus epidemic's unequal impact on minorities.

Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stress that the disproportionately high impact of the virus on certain minority groups is not driven by genetics.

Rather, it’s social conditions that make people of color more likely to be exposed to the virus and more likely to get seriously ill.

The CDC is vowing better data collection on how the virus is impacting minorities. It also aims to improve testing and contact tracing for minorities.

And the agency wants to diversify the public health workforce responding to the epidemic.