LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County is on pace to reach the “high” virus activity level by the end of this week, which could mean another indoor mask mandate by the end of the month.
As cases spike, the Department of Public Health is partnering with many organizations across the region to address the needs of those disproportionately affected by the virus.
African Americans make up less than 10% of the entire population in Los Angeles, but as Aziza Lucas-Wright walks the streets of Skid Row, she says they make up most of those homeless population here.
“It’s a very telling tale,” she said.
Telling because she said this shows how this community has been overlooked when in need.
It’s an issue she’s working to address as executive director for the South Central Prevention Coalition. They’re partnering with a street medicine team from the Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science at the SRO Housing Community Center. Every week they offer people without homes everything from blood pressure screenings to COVID-19 vaccines.
Lucas-Wright says she’s concerned about this steady wave of new COVID cases.
“It’s our understanding that we will see increases in hospitalizations,” she said.
A concern about the vulnerable populations the LA County Department of Public Health shares.
Staff scheduled a session to ask for feedback from leaders like Michael Browning, policy director for a grassroots effort called Black Women Rally for Action.
Browning says in a report just released by DPH, the county detailed strategies to address the disproportionate effects of COVID within the Black community.
It includes a plan to partner with organizations, like Browning's, to change policies and practices that perpetuate racism and marginalization and invest in additional resources and programs.
Browning says many of the Black people living in the valley feel neglected.
“When it comes to COVID, they want to make sure they have safe places to go and that they have culturally appropriate places to go for testing and treatment,” he said.
Together, they’ll continue pushing for higher vaccination rates within the Black, 65 and older age group that remains the lowest out of all the races.
Aziza says it’s about meeting these populations where they are.
“It’s hard to separate social justice and the ravages of oppression. It’s hard to separate that from myths… people don’t see a difference,” she said.
But until they do, she and organizations like hers say they will keep chipping away.