‘It is lethal.’ These women pushed for COVID-19 testing in Gulfport’s black communities
Gulfport Councilwoman Ella Holmes-Hines lost a relative last week to the novel coronavirus in New Orleans and has been reading about the disproportionate number of African American deaths in Mississippi from COVID-19, as well as those in other cities and states.
State Rep. Sonya Williams-Barnes has buried two people from her funeral home, Locket-Williams Mortuary in Gulfport, who were never tested for the virus but showed symptoms before their deaths.
Both women wanted to see testing in their African-American communities.
Ella Holmes-Hines said she emailed Memorial Hospital at Gulfport, which agreed to offer free drive-thru testing from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday at the Isiah Fredericks Community Center at 3312 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. in North Gulfport.
“What I see is African American people have not taken this to heart, that it is truly a serious virus and it is lethal,” Holmes-Hines said. “It’s lethal. It’s not your average anything that I’ve seen in my lifetime.”
She believes many of her constituents are preoccupied with putting food on the table and paying their bills because of widespread layoffs, particularly in service industries.
She and Williams-Barnes also said their African American constituents suffer higher rates of heart disease, diabetes and hypertension, putting them at greater risk of death from COVID-19.
Gov. Tate Reeves has pointed out that Mississippi’s population as a whole has a higher rate of obesity, diabetes and hypertension.
Still, data from the State Health Department indicates black Mississippians have suffered 56% of reported COVID-19 cases while accounting for less than 40% of the total population, Mississippi Today reported.
Health Department statistics also show that 71% of deaths were in the African American community as of Wednesday, based on cases where full data was available.
“I think our numbers being high goes back to underlying illness due to not expanding Medicaid so that more people would have preventative health care,” Williams-Barnes said. “The high number of African Americans testing positive and dying from the coronavirus in Mississippi is the result of not having a healthy society from the start.”
The majority black city of Moss Point in Jackson County also has a high rate of positive coronavirus cases.
In Louisiana, about one-third of the population is black but so are 70% of those who have died from COVID-19, according to data reported by The New York Times and other media outlets.
A news release from Memorial Hospital says demand for drive-thru testing at Isiah Fredericks will determine the need for additional dates. Residents can be screened if they are experiencing flu-like symptoms such as body aches, fever, coughing, sneezing, chills or shortness of breath.
Harrison County Supervisor Kent Jones, who represents the district, made sure the community center was available and is helping coordinate logistics.
Tests take anywhere from 72 hours to seven days to be processed. Anyone with questions can call (228) 867-5000.
Memorial also operates seven testing sites that are open weekdays.
This story was originally published April 9, 2020 at 1:46 PM.
