-Angelot ndongmo-

Cousins!

Leaked emails from New York City health officials have allegedly exposed their practice of using race; to determine where to send dwindling supplies of coronavirus virus test kits!

The NY Post reports, City Councilman Joe Borelli’s office conversed with reps for the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Borelli said his supporters are struggling with access to get tested, along Staten Island South Shore.

Mostly white, middle-class, are noted as having one of the highest COVID rates, for the month of December. Despite that, it is still not one of the priority neighborhoods. The thirteen city testing sites that are available, are all on the North Shore which just so happens to be more diverse.

An email sent on December 22nd, revealed that one of Borelli’s staff, Briana Nasti, wrote “Our office has been receiving calls regarding the mobile NYC H+H testing sites, such as Wolfes Pond Park. It appears many are waiting with delays, and are being turned away after waiting for hours.”
The response received caused frustration in Borelli’s camp. They learned the agency planned to follow the organization De Balsio created in 2020, called the ‘Task Force on Racial Inclusion & Equity’, with its own list of priority neighborhoods. They planned to give immediate attention to 31 underserved neighborhoods they identified.

The task force explained Nabes were selected based on analysis results from DOHMH that included criteria such as “health status, living conditions, social inequities, occupation, and COVID-19 Wave 1 impact”. 

Borelli shared with the media how small business owners stated, they were victimized as a result of the strongly enforced mask mandates and vax card rules. 

“I think we are clearly not on their racial and ethnic rubric priority list. There was no problem pointing fingers at the South Shore of Staten Island when it came to sending enforcement goons.” 

There was a Health Department spokesperson who claimed minority communities had “borne the brunt of this pandemic due to structural racism.” Prioritized neighborhoods received distributed tests. DOHMH insist they are committed to racial equality as revealed in a recent ‘Request for Proposals’, which stated “The ..DOHMH is committed to improving health outcomes for all New Yorkers by explicitly advancing racial equity and social justice.

Racial equity does not mean simply treating everyone equally, but rather, allocating resources and services in such a way that explicitly addresses barriers imposed by structural racism (i.e. policies and institutional practices that perpetuate racial inequity) and White privilege.” 

Now weeks into the Omicron surge, Queens Councilman Robert Holden stated, there was not a single testing site in his district as yet. Holden spoke about his sentiments on the matter and said, “COVID-19 does not discriminate by politics and neither should lame duck de Blasio. We need testing sites and home test kits immediately. Bill de Blasio sees districts of middle-class taxpayers, who didn’t vote for him, as people who don’t deserve protection from COVID-19. His administration only enters districts like ours to fine small businesses and use them as cash machines.”

Cousins, do you agree this is prioritization based on race?