Dallas tried to do the right thing with Covid vaccine distribution, but Texas state officials blocked the effort.

Republican Commissioner J.J. Koch proposed prioritizing vaccine distribution in the zip codes with the highest number of Covid cases. The Dallas County Commissioners Court approved the plan until state officials from the Department of State Health Services pushed back. Texas DSHS officials vetoed the plan and threatened to reduce the number of doses delivered to the county.

Dallas County released vaccination data broken down by ZIP code showing the majority of vaccines were going to white, affluent areas. While the new Covid case data did not include racial demographics, it demonstrated 11 local zip codes with high Covid prevalence rates.

These zip codes include areas with large communities of people of color. The Dallas County health department attempted to prioritize vaccinating the predominately Black and Latinx neighborhoods at its Fair Park vaccination hub.

The Texas Tribune reports Texas state officials threatened to reduce vaccine distribution to Dallas Country unless it reversed the policy. Faced with the threat of losing crucial vaccine supply, Dallas County officials relented and changed course.

DSHS Associate Commissioner Imelda Garcia issued an attempted explanation stating, “While we ask hub providers to ensure vaccine reaches the hardest-hit areas and populations, solely vaccinating people who live in those areas is not in line with the agreement to be a hub provider.”

It is important to note the Dallas Country strategy never proposed vaccinating only the residents in the 11 zip codes. Increasing the vaccine supply in the Fair Park location would have only simply increased the vaccine supply in areas geographically closer to the affected neighborhoods.

The CDC has continued to report data showing an almost five times higher risk of severe disease and hospitalization in people of color. Dallas County attempted to focus the vaccine strategy to help these communities.

Dallas had a chance to prioritize vaccinating the communities that need it the most.

Can someone explain why Texas said no?

The post Texas Blocks Dallas Efforts to Vaccinate Communities of Color appeared first on Medika Life.

Date of Release: Dec. 18, 2020

HOUSTON  /PRNewswire/ — Today, Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the “COVID Community Profile Report,” a daily updated snapshot of how COVID-19 is affecting our states and communities. This release of county-level testing data has never been made available before in any dataset, nor compiled by an outside organization. It is available for public review for the first time.

The Community Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for this data release is hosted by CareSet and welcomes healthcare professionals, data journalists, and researchers to ask questions and comment at: https://github.com/CareSet/COVID_Community_Profile_Report_FAQ.

“This release reveals how federal epidemiologists at HHS and the CDC choose to rank and prioritize regional problems in the COVID-19 pandemic,” says Fred Trotter, CTO of CareSet. “For the public, it will be the first time they will see a merged data view of the most critical measurements of the pandemic.” Access to the report can be found at: https://beta.healthdata.gov/National/COVID-19-Community-Profile-Report/gqxm-d9w9.

Here are some examples of what this data reveals:

• Are there regional variations that illustrate differences? In Texas, deaths per 100K are higher in Amarillo, but the city is improving while Midland continues to surge.
• How does this data demonstrate our current pandemic surge? Currently, 899 of 926 cities are considered “sustained hotspots.”
• How can this data be used to try and address racial inequities? All of the regional analyses included in this report have corresponding census data on race and ethnicity. This should allow researchers to better understand how people of different races are being impacted with narrow regional communities.
• How are different communities being impacted? Small towns across the U.S. are experiencing surges, especially: Susanville, CA; Wenatchee, WA; McMinnville, TN; Meadville, PA; and Lincoln, IL.

Because systematic reporting has improved over time, and the data has become more reliable, the Federal Government hopes this data release can provide clarity and reduce misinformation. This data release illustrates how COVID-19 is affecting local communities and hospitals. It shows how holiday gatherings can lead to a spike in cases and hospitalizations.

About CareSet Systems
CareSet (https://careset.com) is a government healthcare data analytics and data journalism company. We believe in getting the best treatments to the right patients quickly and efficiently. We do that by analyzing government data sources, such as Medicare claims data. With CareSet, biomedical companies become better at serving the patient community.

Public Relations Contact:
Cameron Lorenz
Account Executive
anthonyBarnum Public Relations
Cell: 832.628.4801
cameron.lorenz@anthonybarnum.com

SOURCE: CareSet Systems

Related Links

Careset.com

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