The COVID-19 outbreak has been hitting Texas and most parts of the world. In connection to this, black lawmakers are saying that Republican Governor Greg Abbott and state officials have failed to address their requests for better data and initiatives to alleviate the fatal impact of COVID-19 on Black Americans.

A The Dallas Morning News report on Sunday said that since the state recorded its first confirmed COVID-19 case in March, black legislators have been requesting for a task force, to get a more accurate number of the effects of the virus on brown and black Texans, and augmented testing in severely affected black and brown communities.

The same report said, "Texas has struggled" in tracking racial health differences. More so, many of the over 76,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 1,700 deaths on the case dashboard of the state lack information on ethnicity and race.

As of Friday, The Dallas Morning News reported, Texas had not yet received the ethnicity or race of 79 percent of the cases which were reported to the state, as well as 63 percent of the reported mortalities.

Question Remains Unanswered

Houston Democrat Sen. Borris Miles said, he, himself, his colleagues "and people of color" have been asking the government without answers. He told the newspaper, "It's like we don't exist."

According to the senator, in mid-May, he was able to get COVID-19 testing provided by the state in mostly black and Latino communities that are "considered hot spots" in his district. However, that was a couple of months ago, Sen. Borris said, after the governor's declaration of "a state of disaster."

In a newspaper report, John Wittman, a spokesman for Abbott, said Texas would considerably ramp up testing in Latino and black communities. No further details have been provided, though.

In April, Gov. Abbott said, he was working with legislators to better respond to the disproportionate effect of the pandemic on African Americans.

Meanwhile, spokeswoman for the Department of State Health Services, Lara Anton said, local health authorities are conducting their own COVID-19 case and death investigation.

The investigation conducted, she explained, is then turned over to the state. She also said the completion of investigations "take time," and it depends upon the conditions. Such circumstances, the spokeswoman added, do not include ethnicity and race data as people opt not to answer the particular question. 

State with Enough Data to Determine Trends

Texas had enough data to determine trends, Anton said. For instance, she explained, "blacks make up 16 percent of the COVID-19 cases in the state even though they are just 12 percent of the populace.

Nevertheless, the spokeswoman continued, "With so much of the data completed" and identified as "unknown," Anton said the real number of cases among blacks could be "much higher than the state's."

Other than the Democrats, eight Republicans have also called for the state's action. They, including some of the most conservative members of the House, joined state Rep. Shawn Thierry, calling for a task force to evaluate racial differences.

The lone Republican in the Legislature, Rep. James White, said that gathering racial data is essential to address this ongoing global health crisis.

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