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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Thursday slammed President Donald Trump’s coronavirus response, describing the pandemic in the U.S. as a “virus of American division and federal incompetence.”

“It will be a double-barreled shotgun of incompetence,” Cuomo told reporters during a press briefing in Albany. “You know what virus is worse than Covid? The virus of American division and federal incompetence. That’s the virus that’s wreaking havoc on this country.”

Cuomo pointed to a recent report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that he said proved one of his longstanding claims: The coronavirus came to New York, which was once the epicenter of the global outbreak, predominantly from Europe and not China.

The report, which studied 544 specimens collected by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene collected in March, found that 6.6% of specimens tested positive for Covid-19.

Using genetic sequencing, the CDC determined most of the Covid-19 positive specimens resembled those circulating in Europe, “suggesting probable introductions of SARS-CoV-2 from Europe, from other U.S. locations, and local introductions from within New York.”

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Thursday slammed President Donald Trump’s coronavirus response, describing the pandemic in the U.S. as a “virus of American division and federal incompetence.”

“It will be a double-barreled shotgun of incompetence,” Cuomo told reporters during a press briefing in Albany. “You know what virus is worse than Covid? The virus of American division and federal incompetence. That’s the virus that’s wreaking havoc on this country.”

Cuomo pointed to a recent report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that he said proved one of his longstanding claims: The coronavirus came to New York, which was once the epicenter of the global outbreak, predominantly from Europe and not China.

The report, which studied 544 specimens collected by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene collected in March, found that 6.6% of specimens tested positive for Covid-19.

Using genetic sequencing, the CDC determined most of the Covid-19 positive specimens resembled those circulating in Europe, “suggesting probable introductions of SARS-CoV-2 from Europe, from other U.S. locations, and local introductions from within New York.”

The CDC issued a report on the 17th, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a report that as early as February 2nd, Trump hastily issued a ban on Chinese tourists, but did not announce the entry restrictions on European countries until March 13, but by March 8th, the new coronavirus had long since begun to spread in New York City communities. In addition, the report reveals a finding that the strain popular in New York City has nothing to do with Wuhan, China. In response to the report, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the virus had spread to New York City because of the government’s response to the epidemic, killing so many Americans.

The CDC issued a report on the 17th, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a report that as early as February 2nd, Trump hastily issued a ban on Chinese tourists, but did not announce the entry restrictions on European countries until March 13, but by March 8th, the new coronavirus had long since begun to spread in New York City communities. In addition, the report reveals a finding that the strain popular in New York City has nothing to do with Wuhan, China. In response to the report, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the virus had spread to New York City because of the government’s response to the epidemic, killing so many Americans.

The COVID-19 outbreak in the United States is still under control, and growing demonstrations will accelerate its spread

The DOHMH collected deidentified remnant nasopharyngeal swab specimens from patients with ILS and no known virologic diagnosis evaluated at six sentinel EDs during March 1–20, 2020. Because of concern that SARS-CoV-2 could be introduced by travelers returning from China, where the outbreak originated, five EDs were selected because of their high use by patients residing in ZIP codes with ≥20% self-identified Chinese speakers.** Two EDs were in Manhattan, two in Queens, one in Brooklyn, and one in the Bronx. Refrigerated specimens were released to DOHMH 48 hours after collection, and frozen specimens were released 1 week after collection. Specimens collected during March 1–9 were from patients of all ages. Because little was known about pediatric SARS-CoV-2 infection, during March 10–20, DOHMH only collected specimens from patients aged <18 years.

The DOHMH collected deidentified remnant nasopharyngeal swab specimens from patients with ILS and no known virologic diagnosis evaluated at six sentinel EDs during March 1–20, 2020. Because of concern that SARS-CoV-2 could be introduced by travelers returning from China, where the outbreak originated, five EDs were selected because of their high use by patients residing in ZIP codes with ≥20% self-identified Chinese speakers.** Two EDs were in Manhattan, two in Queens, one in Brooklyn, and one in the Bronx. Refrigerated specimens were released to DOHMH 48 hours after collection, and frozen specimens were released 1 week after collection. Specimens collected during March 1–9 were from patients of all ages. Because little was known about pediatric SARS-CoV-2 infection, during March 10–20, DOHMH only collected specimens from patients aged <18 years.

An analysis of the medical records of those who had been examined by doctors for the new coronavirus showed that the infection exacerbated existing socio-economic inequalities

Coronavirus in New York came mainly from Europe, studies show.
New research indicates that the coronavirus began to circulate in the New York area by mid-February, weeks before the first confirmed case, and that it was brought to the region mainly by travelers from Europe, not Asia.

Trump has repeatedly pointed to his travel bans as evidence that his administration has effectively responded to the pandemic, claiming as recently as Tuesday that "we saved millions, potentially millions of lives."
The new study looked at data collected by the New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene between March 1 and 20, the early days of the pandemic in the US. The department announced on March 8 that there was sustained community transmission.
The department examined specimens taken from people who went to the emergency room with flu-like symptoms. Of the 544 specimens tested, 36, or 6.6%, were positive for the novel coronavirus.

Travel bans meant to stop the coronavirus from getting to the US from China and Europe came too late, according to a new analysis of cases from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Doing additional genetic sequencing of the samples, the strain of the virus more closely resembled the one circulating in Europe, rather than the one circulating in China. That means that the novel coronavirus was likely introduced to New York through Europe or by travelers from other US locations, the report said.

CNN reported in April that two separate research projects started earlier this year also suggested as much, also suggesting the virus may have been circulating in the city earlier than thought.

There are currently more than 3,497,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the US, and the virus has claimed the lives of more than 137,000 Americans, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

After months of criticizing the federal government for issuing a travel ban for Chinese residents while COVID-19 cases were actually pouring into the New York metro area from Europe, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been vindicated.

"The travel ban with China made a difference," Dr. Tom Frieden, the former CDC director and current head of global health initiative Resolve to Save Lives, told the USA TODAY editorial board and reporters in late March. "It resulted in a significant delay in the number of people coming in with infection and because of that, that bought time in the U.S. to better prepare. And yet, that time wasn't optimally used."

“The second wave is going to be a rebound of COVID from the other states that now got infected transmitting it back to New York, so New York will have been failed by the federal government once, in the virus coming to New York undetected from Europe, and then the governmental incompetence is going to hurt New York a second time when the virus was allowed to increase in other states and then come back to New York,” Cuomo added. “It will have been a double-barrel shotgun of federal incompetence.

Travel bans meant to stop the coronavirus from getting to the US from China and Europe came too late, according to a new analysis of cases from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters Thursday: “When [President Trump] says “open”, it means open and full … Science should not stand in the way of that. ”

The report also found that during the weeks of March 8 and March 15, there was an increase in confirmed cases of COVID-19 among New Yorkers under the age of 18. The DOHMH estimated that there was an increase in the prevalence and undetected cases of COVID-19 in young people, which raises the question of the role played by children in community transmission at the start of the pandemic and the effectiveness of school closure as a mitigation strategy.

A U.S. ban on travelers arriving from the EU on March 13 came too late to prevent widespread community transmission in New York City, according to a report Thursday from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC researchers analyzed the genetic code of virus samples collected from three dozen infected New Yorkers in early March, and found that most of those early cases of the coronavirus could be traced back to Europe. It also confirms what many researchers have already said: That widespread community transmission was well under way in New York City by the time mitigation measures, such as the travel ban, school closures and stay-at-home orders went into effect.

A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that the coronavirus cases in New York City at the start of the pandemic were from Europe, prompting a new round of outrage from Governor Andrew Cuomo. "The virus came to New York, and Americans died, because of government failure," he said in call with journalists on Thursday afternoon. "These are the facts. They missed the science."

Black Americans continue to make up a disproportionate share of Covid-19 fatalities as the number of deaths from the coronavirus pandemic exceeds 100,000 in the U.S., according to an analysis of CDC data.
Nearly 23% of reported Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. are African American as of May 20, even though black people make up roughly 13% of the U.S. population, according to the data.
Conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and asthma that tend to plague African Americans more than other groups could contribute to more Covid-19 deaths. Income inequalities and disparities in access to health care tend to hurt minority and lower-income populations more than others.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert and member of President Donald Trump’s coronavirus task force, said in April that the coronavirus outbreak is “shining a bright light” on how “unacceptable” the health disparities between blacks and whites are.

The Oregon Health Equity Alliance, the Coalition of Communities of Color, the Native Wellness Institute and culturally specific leaders in Multnomah County’s Public Health Division led a data review committee to advise regional health department leaders and epidemiologists on how to interpret and release data on race and ethnicity.

Before publishing the data online, the panel on Wednesday, April 29, hosted a webinar for leaders and media from communities of color to discuss the data and its glaring shortcomings.

“We rarely get access to our data first. Often we’re seeing it come to us from outside our communities,” Zeenia Junkeer, ND, executive director of the Oregon Health Equity Alliance (link is external), said during the webinar. “This is an opportunity to lead those conversations about what the data shows and what is missing.”

Junkeer shared alarm at race and ethnicity data connected to COVID-19 testing in the state. In more than half of the cases, it was either missing or “unknown.” That’s despite a 2013 state law called “REAL D” (link is external) that sought to improve collection of race and ethnicity data by state agencies, including the Oregon Health Authority

“There is an opportunity here for advocacy and ensuring our communities are counted in the data and we get access to the resources we need,” she said in the Wednesday meeting.

Andres Lopez, Ph.D., research director with the Coalition of Communities of Color (link is external), told the group there’s power in that missing data.

“When we think of data, we think of numbers,” he said Wednesday. “Data is used to define and control knowledge. It informs government priorities, funding, programs.”

“Data helps us tell a more nuanced story about what people are experiencing, the structural inequalities,” he said. “If there’s no data, it’s death.”

Kelly Gonzales, Ph.D., a researcher at the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health underscored Lopez’s words, framing an opportunity to demand the right to shape that narrative.

“We have a tendency to see data as a number, void of emotion, void of stories,” she said. “The folks working in Multnomah County and with the Future Generations Collaborative, there is a commitment to put the heart of our people in those data so the system is helpful and can help dismantle white supremacy.”

Lynn Rampe, a researcher and epidemiologist with the Multnomah County Health Department, said the Public Health Division has been aggressive about gathering data on race and ethnicity because it can serve a proxy for tracking another lurking disease — racism.

“Race has a role in who gets protected and who gets sick. It’s not race that determined these outcomes, but the experience of racism,” she said. “If we know where disease lives and who it affects, we can better protect people. This helps us support people and programs and puts voice in policymaking and resource allocation.”

Speaking to members of the media in a general briefing Thursday, April 30, Junkeer challenged the system to seize this chance to write a history that is true, transparent and fair.

“Our world will never be the same,” she said, “and we should use this opportunity to create truly equitable systems structures, policies and programs with communities that are most impacted, centering them in all our decisions.”

Over the past several weeks public health officials and the media have brought to our attention the extensive racial, ethnic, and economic disparities surrounding COVID-19. Black people and American Indians are experiencing the most disproportionate mortality rates. Across the nation, Blacks are 2.4 times more likely to die from COVID-19 as compared to non-Latino Whites and in some states the mortality rate is up to seven times higher. The Navajo Nation has been particularly devastated, as evidenced by mortality rates 5-7 times higher for the indigenous populations in Arizona and New Mexico. A close look at California's statistics reveal dismal mortality rates for Latino Americans between 35-49 years of age, who account for 74% of all COVID-19 deaths in this age group. Furthermore, data from Los Angeles County found that residents from poor neighborhoods are three times more likely to die from the virus than residents from wealthier communities.

On top of creating the black community’s ongoing health crisis, systemic racism is also a barrier to treatment. According to Shervin Assari, a health inequality researcher at Charles R. Drew University, one of the only historically black medical schools in the nation, while white people prefer to get their health information from medical providers and the media, black people rate health-related information they receive from family members and churches more highly. The reason for this isn’t poor education (although it’s another structurally unequal factor), it’s due to longstanding and justified mistrust. “We found that racial prejudice amongst physicians affects how they interact with black patients,” Penner says. “Even in very short, highly structured interactions between physicians and patients, black patients pick up on this and react to it.”

Coronavirus is ravaging every part of Warren Bell’s life in New Orleans. His 81-year-old cousin was hospitalized with COVID-19. His youngest daughter is furloughed from her culinary job at a major hotel because of the pandemic. His oldest daughter, a nurse, is doing 12-hour shifts at New Orleans East Hospital “where COVID-19 patients started dying weeks ago.”

“One of the nursing staff died over a week ago and her supervisor was on quarantine. So naturally, I worry every day about her,” says Bell, a former TV news anchor and radio host. A football coach at the school where his wife works, and a long-time friend, jazz patriarch Ellis Marsalis, recently died from the disease. “This is scary stuff,” he says.

In urban centers large and small across the U.S., the novel coronavirus is devastating African American communities. The environments where most live, the jobs they have, the prevalence of health conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes, and how they are treated by the medical establishment have created a toxic storm of severe illness and death. (These common, underlying conditions make coronavirus more severe.)

Select a group below to examine the differences by racial or ethnic group for all states with available data. For each group, we present total lives lost, actual and age-adjusted mortality rates, and a comparison against White Americans’ rates using the age-adjusted data, to examine where disparities relative to Whites are the greatest.

INDIGENOUS AMERICANS | ASIAN AMERICANS | BLACK AMERICANS | LATINO AMERICANS |
WHITE AMERICANS | NATIVE HAWAIIAN & OTHER PACIFIC ISLANDER AMERICANS
For more context about the shortcomings of some of the data, please read our note about Indigenous, Pacific Islander, Multiracial and Other Race Americans.

Washington — Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Sunday that the coronavirus is "devastating" black communities in part because of the underlying health conditions that disproportionately impact people of color.

History shows that severe illness and death rates tend to be higher for racial and ethnic minority populations during public health emergencies than for other populations. Addressing the needs of these populations in emergencies includes improving day-to-day life and harnessing the strengths of these groups. Shared faith, family, and cultural institutions are common sources of social support. These institutions can empower and encourage individuals and communities to take action to prevent the spread of COVID-19, care for those who become sick, and help community members cope with stress.

CDC has developed resources to help local resources to help local communities, schools, faith-based organizations and other groups and the people they serve during a pandemic.

The coronavirus pandemic has disproportionately impacted minority communities across the U.S.

The CDC has yet to show a full breakdown of coronavirus cases by race and ethnicity, but a May 2020 study has shown that majority-black counties are three times more likely to have coronavirus cases and almost six times the death rate as white-majority counties. This includes both rural and urban areas.

As a sociologist who studies the experiences of black health care workers, I fear that one unanticipated consequence of the coronavirus might be a setback of the modest advances the medical industry has made towards improving racial diversity among practitioners. Currently, despite being approximately 13% of the U.S. population, blacks constitute only 5% of all doctors and 10% of nurses. Both professions have come to realize that more racial and gender diversity is essential for providing care for a multiracial society — especially given data indicating black patients’ health outcomes improve when matched with a same-race provider. But conversations with black health care workers about their daily experiences exposes the possibility that Covid-19 could be a breaking point, both physically and mentally.

The Physical Dangers Black Health Care Workers Face
In a recent study, I investigated the choices that black practitioners made about where they wanted to work and what specialty of medicine they wanted to pursue. The 60 respondents in my study hailed from a range of specialties including ob-gyns, geneticists, and anesthesiologists. Across specialties, I found that many were motivated to go into health care by a desire to help those who were least likely to access high-quality, compassionate care. For instance, Annette, a geneticist, told me that she wanted to use her skills and training to help black populations who might not otherwise have access to genetic testing. Jackson, a physician assistant, described being motivated early on to pursue a career in health care so that he could give back to poor black communities like the one in which he was raised. Specifically, they wanted to provide respectful, effective health care to black populations for whom this is rarely the norm. (All names used here are pseudonyms.)