Lowell minorities infected with virus at higher rate

By Elizabeth Dobbins | Lowell Sun

“The community wants solutions,” said Bobby Tugbiyele, a Lowell resident and one of the people who asked the city to release these numbers at the May council meeting.

Dan Berlowitz, a professor and departmental chair of public health at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, said the university is studying disparities in COVID-19 infections using both regional and national data.

Research locally and nationwide is still ongoing, but there are some hypotheses, he said. Some ethnic or racial minorities have higher rates of co-morbidities, like diabetes, that could lead to worse outcomes. According to the CDC, people who are Hispanic or black are more likely than people who are white to be uninsured or be “essential workers” and therefore unable to stay home.

“I don’t know who this quote is from, but I like it,” Berlowitz said. “Social distancing is a privilege.”

Addressing the uneven impact of COVID-19 is challenging, because it’s so dependent on economic conditions, he said. This is a reason why publicly releasing cases by race is important, Berlowitz said.

“It’s really highlighting the tremendous disparities that exist in healthcare,” he said.

Lowell Department of Public Health Director Joanne Belanger said the city has been looking at the data all along, but only recently did it become comprehensive enough to be useful.

Donoghue said early on the state collected only limited information information, like recent travel. When new cases finally started decreasing, the city’s team of contact tracer was able to reach back out to people and fill in some of these gaps regarding race, she said.

She said the city was also one of the first to provide detailed public data about cases, such as by neighborhood and gender.

Last week, Belanger said the city has used a city-wide approach COVID-19 that doesn’t single out specific groups.

“We value everybody and treat everybody the same,” she said.

Every corner of the city has been impacted by the virus, Belanger said.

“We all have to continue to be vigilant and do the right thing,” she said.

Belanger said the city has one of the highest rates of testing per capita with about 15% of residents tested, according to numbers released by the state on Wednesday.

Donoghue said state level efforts to address issues like housing, schools and food issues could help address the root causes for these disparities.

“These are not things that are going to happen overnight,” she said.