Institute and Partners Request Racial Data on COVID-19 Impact
Information Essential for Providing Support to Hardest Hit Communities of Color in NJ
NEWARK – The New Jersey Institute for Social Justice and its United Black Agenda partners wrote Governor Murphy Tuesday requesting that the State publicly release the following demographic information regarding the current public health crisis:
- Who has been tested, broken down by age, race, ethnicity, municipality, and gender;
- Who has tested positive, broken down by age, race, ethnicity, municipality, and gender; · The fatality rate, broken down by age, race, ethnicity, municipality, and gender;
- Who is or has been hospitalized, broken down by age, race, ethnicity, municipality, and gender; and
- The incidence of testing, infection, hospitalization, and fatalities among the youth and adult incarcerated populations, broken down by age, race, ethnicity, and gender.
Citing statistics demonstrating the disproportionate impact of the virus on communities of color across the country, the letter said, “Public health crises always reveal the cracks in our safety net foundation. And as we are experiencing through this pandemic, these cracks cause earthquakes in our Black and Latina/Latino communities, as well as in other communities of color.”