NBCI rates CDC, berates poor responses to COVID-19
The National Black Church Initiative, a coalition of 34,000 churches representing 27.7 million African Americans joined with over 150,000 sister faith communities across the country, have evaluated the responses of the Center for Disease Control and how they have handled COVID-19 in the African American and Latino communities.
While disclosing the grade in a statement on Wednesday September 2, 2020, NBCI stated that CDC has performed abysmally.
It stated further that CDC can only be awarded an F, a letter grade that reflects the CDC’s total failure to address the virus in a serious manner until 9 months later, and on top of that the failure to provide sufficient resources to fight this disease.
According to the statement, CDC has yet to award any grants to organizations such as the NBCI, even though they have collected over $100 million to aid vulnerable communities.
Rev. Anthony Evans, President of the National Black Church Initiative said, “We have had enough of the continuous failure of the CDC in dealing with the black community concerning the COVID-19 crisis.
“This is why we have launched a comprehensive community-based campaign against CDC. Somebody must pay for this failure!”
Despite the kind gestures of the NBCI to loan CDC over 100,000 volunteers, they still continue to fail our communities, Evan said.
He noted that CDC has utterly failed the African American and Latino communities.
“We continue to die at extraordinary rates which have even baffled your chief scientist.
“What is going on in the HHS and CDC that they are unable or unwilling to stop the death and dying in the African American and Latino communities?
“This is morally outrageous! We have identified 12 weaknesses in your system that continue to contribute to the high COVID-19 infection rate and the deaths in our communities,” he said.
The statement reveals dearth of strategic plan, stating that the CDC has not presented the country with a strategic plan on how to overcome COVID-19 and as a result, the NBCI has no idea how to work successfully with the government and the steps to take to litigate the crisis.
It adds that the country has been at this for 9 months and there is no clear education on the 3 most important questions. What is COVID-19? How is it spread? Why are African Americans, Latinos, the poor and elderly the main victims?
“We have some general thoughts to these questions, but nothing concrete, therefore we have advised an educational plan certified by the NBCI’s National Clinical Strategy to answer these questions,” the statement says.
It was also reported that the President has provoked the Defense Production Act, but no PPEs for the poorest communities.
It further stresses that the latest changes from the CDC guidelines, in reference to who should be tested, is confusing and a moral disgrace and our community.
The NBCI supports a universal COVID-19 testing plan for everyone in our country, which will help slow the rate of death and dying, especially in the African American and Latino communities.
NBCI also complains that the CDC Foundation has not made any grants to the African American and Latino communities – the CDC foundation is lying to the American public about the $100 million that they have collected on behalf of the most vulnerable communities.
The scientific community is losing faith in CDC’s leadership – 150,000 black churches have lost faith in the CDC’s leadership and we will do something about it.
The HHS and CDC have lost control of the accurate data concerning the morbidity and mortality of the African American and Latino communities – we demand a complete transparency count concerning this data and for it to be shared with the National Medical Association, the National Hispanic Medical Association and other researchers of color.
The CDC guidelines on schools opening are grossly inefficient especially for African American and Latino parents. They need to be clarified immediately.
The CDC has not reached out to the communities in the preparation of a vaccine.
Your failure to do so will compound the problems in the African American and Latino communities to consider the possible vaccine legitimate.
NBCI flu campaign – we have not heard back from CDC in an official capacity on how they plan to increase the rate of the common flu vaccine in our community.
The National Black Church Initiative (NBCI) is a coalition of 34,000 African American and Latino Churches working to eradicate racial disparities in healthcare, technology, education, housing, and the environment.
NBCI’s mission is to provide critical wellness information to all of its members, congregants, Churches, and the public. Our methodology is utilizing faith and sound health science.
NBCI’s purpose is to partner with major organizations and officials whose main mission is to reduce racial disparities in the variety of areas cited above.
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