Illinois remains one of a few states still shut down due to the COVID-19 health crisis. Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot have been lockstep as it relates to the timing of the city’s reopening.
In the early stages of the pandemic, it was reported that 70 percent of those who had contracted COVID-19 in Chicago were Black. As the city moves closer to reopening, it also has been reported that the Latinx community is experiencing a surge in COVID-19 diagnoses and deaths.
Lightfoot addressed this issue in one of her recent daily press conferences. “With increasing testing, improved reporting and the continued spread of this terrible virus, we are seeing a surge in cases among our Latinx cases,” she said. “This demands we dig down deeper and work harder to confront this reality.”
There has been a clear disparity when it comes to people of color being affected by this disease, and some feel that, because Black and Brown people are being affected at a higher rate, the crisis is not being handled with the proper sense of urgency or care.
On Thursday, May 21, Lightfoot took exception to a vote taken by the 17-member Cook County Board of Commissioners that would allow the city to share the addresses of all those affected by COVID-19 to a database.
In a post on Twitter, she wrote: “Today, to my great astonishment and disappointment, nine members of the Cook County Board of Commissioners voted to capitulate to ignorance and bigotry by voting to force the disclosure of the addresses of every patient who has tested positive for COVID-19.”
Today, to my great astonishment and disappointment, nine members of the Cook County Board of Commissioners voted to capitulate to ignorance and bigotry by voting to force the disclosure of the addresses of every patient who has tested positive for COVID-19.
— Archived: Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot (@mayorlightfoot) May 22, 2020
In addition to expressing her disappointment, Lightfoot made it clear that no such law would ever pass in the city of Chicago.
We will never allow this to become law in Chicago, just as we will never allow people to be stigmatized and put at risk for being denied services or seeking assistance and support. This is a terrible decision. The people responsible should be ashamed and the rest of us outraged.
— Archived: Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot (@mayorlightfoot) May 22, 2020
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