Wednesday Q+A With Robin Kelly
As of early April, around 72 percent of the people who had died from the coronavirus in Chicago were African-American. Rep. Robin Kelly, whose district includes Chicago's South Side, is working on legislation to require the federal government to collect and report racial and ethnic data associated with COVID-19. Kelly spoke to National Journal's Erin Durkin about why having this information is important and what other policies she is pushing to address health inequities affecting the black community. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What worries you the most as we see reports that black communities are being greatly impacted by the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S.?
The number of deaths. I mean, that's people losing their moms and dads, some brothers and cousins—the devastation on the family, the devastation on the neighborhood and the community. Bottom line, it's ridiculous that this is happening, but it's just a further sign that health care disparities have been around forever, and this disease has just put a bright spotlight on them.
I was wondering if you're hearing from constituents about these disparities in health care?
Not so much ... but when I talk to people about it, even friends that are my constituents, it's devastating. The numbers—it's shocking, but it's not surprising.
Can you explain that comment—"The numbers—it's shocking, but it's not surprising"?
Shocking, because as you see in Chicago—I mean, if it still holds true today, 72 percent of the deaths are African-American. If you look at what's happening in New Orleans, if you look at what's happening in Michigan statewide, we're a small part of the population but a large part of who's dying.
The numbers may jolt you, but when you really think about it, it's not surprising because we haven't had the access to health care. What we call the social determinants of health—the wealth gap, the job gap, the housing, education—those are all social determinants of health. The poverty. That's why it's not surprising because we know all these things continue to go on despite progress that we've made.
Are you talking to your state officials right now about this issue?
Everybody's well aware. The mayor is well aware and the governor is well aware of what's happening, and what we're trying to do is come up with solutions, like right now. We're discussing more testing—testing in concentrated areas, testing in black and brown areas. Black and brown people tend to be the essential workers, and they're going back to their neighborhoods. So looking at testing in more concentrated areas and still getting the education out there that you have to do the social distancing as possible. But it's harder in some areas because people live in more densely populated areas.
Are there some important steps you think the federal government needs to take to ensure that these health disparities are being addressed right away?
Instead of having people come to us, we go to the people. In some areas, it's not easy to even get to the testing site; you may not have a car. Or, especially in more rural areas, there may not be transportation, so we have to be the proactive ones. Then we have to make sure there's enough tests, because that's been a problem. And then the other thing is where is all the equipment going—making sure that the equipment is going where most needed or in these areas that you're seeing large numbers of people dying or getting sick.
I was wondering if you also think there needs to be more data collected from patients so that we can identify these disparities?
Definitely. We definitely need that. We have legislation that talks about more data collection. In a letter that I joined onto, led by Senator [Elizabeth] Warren and my colleague Ayanna Pressley, we contacted [Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar] about what needs to be done in monitoring the situation. We sent a letter to the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] about the same thing, that there has to be data collection.
But there are only like nine states that even talked about the racial breakdown. I don't know if one of the issues is the states are not even reporting it, or they don't want to share it. But we're trying to definitely have data collection and definitely have that in the next package.
Are you hoping, out of all of this, there are some permanent changes adopted during this time to help address disparities going forward?
That's the thing about data. Data drives policy and programming and legislation. But also, yes, the United States really taking a look at itself as far as this issue. … We have to make sure that people have coverage, but also we have to make sure that people have access to health care. So many rural places have lost their hospitals. Even my district is urban, suburban, and rural, and hospitals in my district have struggled to stay open, so make sure that we have the health care infrastructure. The other thing is, what can we do to diversify the health care pipeline? I think that's very important.
So yes, there's things that we can do, but it just seems like you'll hear people talk about systemic or institutionalized racism; that's why some of these things have not been done. Patients are treated differently. A good example is maternal mortality: Why is it that black women die three to four times the rate of white women?