1 of 3
First responders and members of the local faith community distributed thousands of face masks, bottles of hand sanitizer and public health information in Richmond neighborhoods Tuesday.
2 of 3
Gov. Ralph Northam, Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney and Virginia Chief Diversity Officer Dr. Janice Underwood spoke before the distribution event, which served as a pilot program for other PPE distributions across the state.
3 of 3
First responders and volunteers gave out 20,000 face masks, 20,000 bottles of hand sanitizer and 10,000 flyers with information on preventing coronavirus spread.
The coronavirus has taken a disproportionate toll on communities of color throughout the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Richmond has been no exception. Despite accounting for less than half of the city’s population, 16 of the 18 people in the city who have died from COVID-19 were African American, according to Virginia Department of Health data.
To address that racial inequity, the state launched a pilot program in Richmond on Tuesday to distribute 20,000 face masks, 20,000 bottles of hand sanitizer and 10,000 flyers with health information to underserved communities who lack access to personal protective equipment (PPE).
At a kickoff event at Armstrong High School, Gov. Ralph Northam and Mayor Levar Stoney joined city first responders and local faith community members before they split into groups and distributed the supplies in surrounding neighborhoods. There, Northam commended the city for staging free COVID-19 testing sites in low-income communities, and said equal access to PPE is the first step in combating the virus.
“Richmond has been a leader in getting out into our communities and making sure that we have those tests, and also that we have access to PPE,” the governor said. “We know that’s how we protect people, [and] if everybody has access to the same thing, then everybody will benefit.”
Stoney and Northam also acknowledged that the racial inequity highlighted by Richmond’s COVID-19 deaths is reflective of long-standing barriers that have historically kept healthcare access out of reach for many communities of color.
“We’ve seen over the course of a period of time, over generations, that when pandemics or natural disasters occur in this world [and] in this country, it’s black and brown people who pay the ultimate price,” he said. “This equity project today is our demonstration that we have to do everything we can working alongside our partners to make sure our people get everything they deserve.”
The bulk of the personal protective equipment that was distributed came from the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, according to state Chief Diversity Officer Dr. Janice Underwood, though 10,000 masks were donated by Deloitte Health 360, a firm that supplied state and city officials with mapping technology to help determine which neighborhoods are at higher risk of COVID-19 spread.
Similar distribution events are also planned in Harrisonburg and Chesapeake, she said.
