The CDC awarded nearly $12 million collectively to Davidson and Shelby counties to address COVID-related health disparities in racial and ethnic minorities. Overall, the Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) was awarded nearly $39 million in total this past week, with a rural carveout totaling over $8.3 million. The CDC says this funding to a total of 107 recipients is part of a larger goal to “advance health equity.”
The Metro Public Health Department of Nashville and Davidson County received over $4.9 million in these funds, while Shelby County Health Department received nearly $6.6 million. The Tennessee Star inquired with the CDC how the funds can be used specifically to address COVID-related health disparities among racial or ethnic minorities, and what metrics they would use to measure progress within the awarded states and localities. The CDC didn’t respond by press time.
According to the CDC page dedicated to COVID-19 health disparities, their goals are to improve and increase testing, contact tracing, health department capacity, and health department services for both high-risk and underserved populations. The CDC defined “underserved populations” as racial and ethic minorities, and rural community members.
The CDC’s full announcement of the grant explained that recipients should implement coordinated and holistic approaches to build cultural, linguistic, and local strategies to reduce COVID-19 risk.
“This grant will provide funding to address COVID-19 and advance health equity (e.g., through strategies, interventions, and services that consider systemic barriers and potentially discriminatory practices that have put certain groups at higher risk for diseases like COVID-19) in racial and ethnic minority groups and rural populations within state, local, U.S. territorial, and freely associated state health jurisdictions,” read the announcement.
The agency also noted that this grant-based initiative factors into “Healthy People 2030,” an initiative through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) to create “[a] society in which all people can achieve their full potential for health and well-being across the lifespan.”
Part of the foundational principles for Healthy People 2030 says that eliminating health disparities, achieving health equity, and attaining health literacy will lead to national health and well-being. Data for progress reports on this iteration of the initiative began in 2020; the original began in 1979 when previous Surgeon General Julius Richmond issued a report on public health promotion and disease prevention.
This goal of achieving health equity and rooting out social determinants of health amounts to $2.25 billion, derived from the Biden Administration’s Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act and apportioned to last for the next two years.
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Corinne Murdock is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and the Star News Network. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to [email protected].
Photo “CDC” by Raed Mansour CC 2.0.
The only disparities I see along racial and ethnic lines is a pandering government attempting (and pretty much succeeding) in convincing the minorities that they are victims and must be treated in a privileged manner because they are incapable of caring for themselves. Thus becoming victims of the government.
Talk about racial biasness!
Right 83, it’s condescending racism which treats minorities as “victims” who “must be treated in a privileged manner”.
Follow the money….
Exactly. Democrat cities get the Democrat money to splurge.
One of the important factors that result in bad outcomes for Covid infection is a Vitamin D deficiency. It’s a matter of “the science” that the darker ones skin, the less Vitamin D is absorbed naturally. But the “health experts” never gave out information re: health and immunity enhancement. Vitamin D supplementation is a very critical mitigation factor for the effects of this and any other Coronavirus, especially for “people of color”. The main focus is on more control and pushing the “vaccine”, that is, experimental gene therapy.
I see two issues here. The first is trust in the government, and second is people taking responsibility for their own health. At this point in the plandemic who in their right mind would believe ANYTHING the government tells us? We have been told nothing but lies non-stop for over a year by the government and the MSM. I believe we have hit the wall and that most everyone who is going to be vaccinated under their own free will has done so. We are now in the coercion phase, which isn’t going to convince too many people. What’s next?
Second, if you are in reasonable health, you have a greater than 99% chance of not dying from the virus (so why is there such a push to get the world vaccinated???). The key factor is reasonable health. Obesity has been one of the major co-morbidities of death from the virus. Taking responsibility for one’s health is a freedom we still possess. The democrats would like nothing better than to make everyone’s health decisions their business. It is the corner stone of their ideology; they believe they know what’s best for everyone else. It is each individuals own responsibility to take care of their health, which is not happening. There are so many outside influences that Americans are exposed to on a daily basis, specifically advertising that promotes unhealthy eating. I believe everyone is entitled to the freedom to eat what they want, but there are health consequences to this freedom.
I hope someone will identify the “numbers” of today that show the problem and then go back in another year or so after the money is spent and check the “numbers” again to show how much this money has helped solve the problem. Of course, like most other government programs it will either not work at all or make the problem worse. But, someone needs to show that as the government will not.
What an utter scam. If you want to improve their health, buy them vitamin C and D, and teach them how to eat and to take care of their immune systems.
Is nobody reading Fauci emails or the news surrounding it? Unbelievable.
Maybe Mayor McCheese can steal the funds to build a deluxe parking garage at he new bogus soccer stadium – at no cost to the owners. Or a big monument to himself for the bang-up job he’s done in Nashville. That could be considered ineptitude equity.
The scamdemic is over-why do the health departments need millions of dollars for testing and contact tracing (neither of which is effective)? And “hollisitic approaches”? Anybody that dared mention that a few months ago got cancelled. All these Dems that think terms like “health equity” and “health literacy” mean they’re going to get taken care of better watch out. The government wants to tell you how to eat , think , and live. They couldn’t care less about your health , unless you start to cost money because of it , then you don’t get any actual health care, or you’ll die waiting on it. Welcome to socialized medicine.
What wasteful crap, sickening! About at the mentality level of dementia Joe, democrats always buying minority votes with our money! Disparity hell !!