LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Mayor Greg Fischer, D - Louisville, reports African Americans currently account for 33 percent of the coronavirus-related deaths in the city while making up 23 percent of its population. On Tuesday, Fischer held a discussion with local experts to layout problems and try to find solutions. T Gonzales the Director for the Louisville Center for Health Equity and Kendall Boyd Louisville Metro's Chief Equity Officer joined Fischer for the Facebook Town Hall meeting. 

The group acknowledged decades-long income and housing disparities contribute to poorer health care, as well as additional pre-existing conditions like diabetes and hypertension. 

Fischer touted the coordination of placing testing sites in underserved and minority communities as helping to track the virus but put pressure on Kentucky’s congressional delegation to provide more federal funding to cities.

"Without direct federal relief from Washington, DC, the resources available to our community are going to be significantly less."

Fischer said up to 1,000 crucial municipal jobs could need to be cut if the city has to deal with the projected budget shortfall. He wants to see major funding for cities in the Senate’s potential version of the HEROES Act, recently passed in the House of Representatives.