(Bethesda, MD, Tuesday, December 8, 2020) – COVID-19 has killed more than 247,000 people in the U.S., and the death toll continues to rise at a rate of about 1,000 per day.

According to the CDC, the positivity rate for African Americans is 2.6 times higher than White, Non-Hispanic persons. For Hispanic/Latinos the positivity rate is 2.8 times higher. And these groups require hospitalization at a rate about five times higher than whites, due to the severity of their illnesses or lack of early access to health care.

A lot of information is circulating about COVID-19.  Some of it misleading and some is not true.  The power to overcome COVID-19 rests with the truth and trust in science.  There are trusted leaders in every community, there is accurate information, and there are clinical studies underway to conquer COVID-19.

Public health measures are not enough to end the pandemic in communities of color. There should be efforts to ensure the inclusion of these communities in clinical studies to develop safe, effective treatments, and vaccines for all.

The National Institutes of Health’s Community Engagement Alliance Against COVID-19 Disparities (CEAL) is working with community- and faith-based organizations, doctors, patients, researchers, community advocates and minority-serving educational institutions to address the major impacts of COVID-19 by providing accurate information and supporting clinical trials to develop treatments for COVID-19, and vaccines.

For more information, visit covid19community.nih.gov.

Through the COVID-19 Community Engagement Alliance (CEAL), the NIH aims to:

• Make available the best, most accurate information about the spread of COVID-19, prevention measures, and about the importance of inclusion in clinical studies. In addition, CEAL addresses the safety and effectiveness of vaccines and treatments, and any concerns that may come from false rumors.
• Increase the use of effective preventive practices that reduce the spread of COVID-19, especially in underserved communities, while offering timely access to proven new treatments.

Increase the public’s understanding of how science works—specifically, the medical research process and how treatments and vaccines are developed.