The resolution — originally introduced during last August's special session but held until the regular session that begins Wednesday — notes, among others, racial inequity to health care. It cites the COVID-19 pandemic, claiming Black citizens are "more likely to be hospitalized by the virus and more than twice as likely to die from the virus" than Whites and other demographic groups.
It also includes a quote from Dr. Sandro Galea, dean of the Boston University School of Public Health, defining a public-health crisis: "The problem must affect large numbers of people, it must threaten health over the long-term, and it must require the adoption of large-scale solutions."
Thirty states and more than 170 localities across the nation have declared racism as a public-health crisis, including all of the states surrounding Virginia — North Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, Kentucky and Maryland.
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