To get these headlines delivered to your inbox every week, sign up for our weekly health news roundup.
COVID funding inaction threatens fragile progress on racial, economic disparities
Megan Messerly and Alice Miranda Ollstein, POLITICO, March 29
Racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations, and deaths are likely to worsen if Congress does not approve new pandemic funding. Many public health leaders fear that the work done over the last year to narrow disparities in vaccination could be undone.
Connecticut churches and health care align to offer trusted space for addiction treatment
Harriet Jones, Connecticut Health I-Team, March 28
As substance use disorders rise, frontline health care workers are teaming up with trusted community leaders to better reach people in need of help. The focus of the effort is to equip faith leaders with harm reduction techniques, which prioritize keeping people safe and alive, even if they keep using.
COVID-19 pandemic isn’t over for Black Americans, report warns
Usha Lee McFarling, STAT, March 29
Although many are seeking to move on from the COVID-19 pandemic, the hospitalization rate for Black people is higher than it’s ever been. A new report details the massive health and economic disparities felt by Black Americans throughout the pandemic, and states that these worse outcomes were not due to any biological or genetic factors, but were a “predictable result of structural and social realities” that are rooted in racism.
CT Report: After 2 years of COVID, lessons learned on racial-health equity
Emily Scott, Public News Service, March 29
A recent report from the Connecticut Health Foundation aims to look at lessons learned in Connecticut during the last two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, and efforts to ensure health equity for people of color in the state going forward.
Related: Lessons from the pandemic: Reflections on our work at CT Health
Opinion: The case for mental health support for Black women
Weruché George, The Connecticut Mirror, March 28
After two highly publicized cases of two Black beauty queens dying by suicide earlier this year, combined with a climbing rate of young Black girls dying by suicide, it is time to ensure that Black women get adequate mental health support that they may need. Weruché George details her experiences seeking mental health care as a Black woman covered by Medicaid.