When it comes to testing for COVID-19, America falls short

In the United States, only 10 states and the District of Columbia are conducting enough tests to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

The state-specific targets were generated by the Harvard Global Health Institute. Six states, including Minnesota, are considered “close” to reaching their testing targets, and 34 states fall far below the goal.

The COVID Tracking Project follows testing data closely and also reports on racial disparities. They found that Black people are 2.5 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than their white peers. In several states, Hispanic and Latinx people are overrepresented, relative to their share of the population, when looking at confirmed cases of COVID-19. 

On Thursday, MPR News host Kerri Miller spoke with a public health expert and an infectious disease physician about racial disparities and the role of testing in understanding COVID-19.  

Guests:

• Dr. Manisha Juthani is an infectious disease physician at the Yale School of Medicine.

• Thomas LaVeist is a professor and dean at Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. He also serves as the co-chair of Louisiana’s COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force.

Subscribe to the MPR News with Kerri Miller podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts , Spotify or RSS.