Wichita’s African American leaders call for more COVID-19 testing, better information

The novel coronavirus infects and kills black Americans at a disproportionately high rate, and local African American leaders want Sedgwick County leaders to do more to protect the most vulnerable.

Outside the county courthouse Wednesday, a group of African American leaders held a demonstration during the Sedgwick County Commission meeting, demanding better communication, better testing, better data and support for black businesses and parents.

“It makes me mad that every time the African-American community or low-income or any race of people want their fair share, we always have to go and ask for it and beg for it,” Kansas Sen. Oletha Faust-Goudeau said.

“And we were there today to make sure that we’re not left out again. We matter, and this new normal must include us.”

Faust-Goudeau and several other leaders held a demonstration outside the Sedgwick County Courthouse during Wednesday’s commission meeting. She said African Americans have been left out of key decisions about reopening Sedgwick County and that problems need to be fixed to prevent further death and disease in a community that has been disproportionately harmed by the coronavirus.

In known cases of COVID-19 in Sedgwick County, African Americans have been infected at a far higher rate than people who are white or of other races, according to the county’s data dashboard. The county has not released race demographics on COVID-19 deaths.

“We can see from data that’s available across the country that African Americans have the highest percentage of pre-existing conditions, such as diabetes and high blood pressure, that put them at a higher risk of dying from COVID-19,” Faust-Goudeau said.

“So why wouldn’t we be included in conversations about how we protect our most vulnerable?”

The demonstration Wednesday followed a letter sent to all area elected officials earlier this week that was co-signed by the Wichita Branch NAACP, Greater Ministerial League, Wichita and South Central Kansas African American Council of Elders, Wichita Urban Professionals, Wichita State University’s African-American Faculty and Staff Association. Faust-Goudeau, Reps. Gail Finney and K.C. Ohaebosim, both Wichita Democrats; and City Council member Brandon Johnson also signed the letter.

“It is evident by most metrics that the African-American community is more vulnerable to the negative impacts of the coronavirus due to the prevalent health issues African-Americans face,” the letter says. “With these concerns in mind, we are requesting the following items be addressed while considering opening Sedgwick County for business as usual.”

The list includes:

▪ Better access to free testing.

Sedgwick County Health Department offers free testing at its west-side location near Central and McLean. But African-American leaders say that’s not enough and the county’s health clinic at Ninth and Minnesota streets should be opened to testing.

A second testing site has been a hotly contested issue on the Commission, with Lacey Cruse pushing to open the east-side location and at least two commissioners — David Dennis and Michael O’Donnell — arguing that if the east-side clinic opens, the county should set-up testing sites in their districts, too.

Other testing options in the area are available in northeast Wichita, a historically black neighborhood, but those tests often cost.

“It’s essential that we open up the Ninth Street Health Department,” Faust-Goudeau said.

▪ Better access to masks.

In general, the shortage of personal protective equipment hits the black community especially hard, Faust-Goudeau said, considering economic standing and the ability to access masks.

She proposes Sedgwick County government use some of its nearly $100 million in CARES Act funding to place free-mask dispensers around the Wichita area.

Medical-type masks are especially important to the African-American community, Faust-Goudeau said, because young black men have been stigmatized and are nervous to wear cloth masks or bandanas over their faces in public, as has been suggested as an acceptable alternative to N95 or surgical masks by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Young black men want to be safe, but they also don’t want to get shot,” she said.

▪ Better, more specific data.

Sedgwick County has been adding data points to its online data portal for weeks. But it’s still lacking useful information that would inform important decisions that could save lives, Faust-Goudeau said.

Wichita’s African-American leaders are asking Sedgwick County to breakdown COVID-19 case counts, recoveries and deaths by ZIP code. Faust-Goudeau said she would also like to see the number of tests broken down by race and ZIP code. She said that could inform elected officials on where additional testing sites are needed and what neighborhoods are being hit the hardest by the coronavirus.

“There are certain people who would not like that information out there, because it would prove the point that we need more testing sites in the inner-city,” she said.

“But the thing is, you can’t really produce that data unless the people who are most affected by it can go and get a test,” she said.

More information should be available on COVID-19’s effects on people incarcerated at the county jail and held by Kansas Department of Corrections, the letter says, including daily communications to family members and the general public.

The leaders’ letter also asks for detailed information regarding clusters in Sedgwick County. The Sedgwick County Health Department has decided to identify only those clusters it deems a threat to the public.

▪ Support for small businesses and parents.

Minority businesses have been identified as especially vulnerable to the economic devastation fueled by COVID-19. They’re also less likely to get small-business coronavirus relief loans from the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program.

Former City Council member Lavonta Williams, who is now first-vice president of the Wichita Branch NAACP and spoke at the rally outside the courthouse Wednesday, said she’s especially concerned about school children and businesses getting enough support to survive the pandemic.

“We have African-American owned businesses, Hispanic businesses, they are suffering,” she said.

“County commissioners, please think about those that are suffering, the businesses that will have to close because of the lack of resources,” she said.

Reopening plans should include provisions to protect parents with school-age children who can’t afford or find daycare or a babysitter while schools are closed, the letter says.

“Our kids have been out of school for two months and now will go two more months without education, what will they be like when school starts up?” she said. “Do all of their households support and push learning within the household? I don’t think so.”

Williams said the county should work with Wichita Public Schools to find a way to help out and be part of the solution.

‘We cannot sit back’

While leaders rallied outside the courthouse, the County Commission discussed its plans for reopening.

Commissioner Lacey Cruse, at one point reading directly from the leaders’ letter, asked about some of the concerns outlined but none of the issues were resolved.

Faust-Goudeau said she has been in communication with Cruse and Commissioner Jim Howell, who used to serve with her in the Legislature and said she looks forward to having further discussion.

“I know that our county commissioners care about the safety of our residents,” she said. “But if people aren’t included who aren’t part of your normal circle, sometimes they can be overlooked.”

Joseph Shepard, on the leadership squad for Wichita Urban Professionals, said during the rally that black people being left out of decisions about public health is part of a racist past, and he’s determined not to let that be Wichita’s future.

“Let me be very clear that this is not new to the African American community,” Shepard said. “There have been pandemics and epidemics that have occurred in the past, and we want to make sure that how those pandemics and epidemics have wiped out our community does not occur with this one today.”

He said having an open channel of communication with the Sedgwick County Commissioners is key to avoiding that.

“We want our elected officials at the Sedgwick County Board of Health to commit to meeting with our African American leaders, whether that be virtually or in a safe space, to ensure that we are disseminating information to each other, to lay out plans and a foundation to ensure that we can move forward in an efficient and effective manner.”

Shepard said the pandemic threatens the most vulnerable, and valuable, members of our population.

“We cannot sit back and idly watch as this pandemic takes away the wise, the most vulnerable, and the most important individuals of our community, those who laid the foundation for us to stand as tall as we do today: the elders of our community.”

This story was originally published May 6, 2020 at 4:44 PM.