CDC Director Identifies Racism as an Epidemic Affecting Public Health
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky speaks to the press after visiting the Hynes Convention Center FEMA Mass Vaccination Site on March 30, 2021 in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Walensky recently said she had a sense of "impending doom" as the rate of coronavirus infection has recently been rising across the U.S. Erin Clark-Pool/Getty Images

CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky noted the disproportionate effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on communities of color regarding the number of cases, deaths, and other social consequences.

However, Walensky claimed that the disparities seen over the past year were not the result of the pandemic.

"Instead, the pandemic illuminated inequities that have existed for generations and revealed for all of America a known, but often unaddressed, epidemic impacting public health: racism," Walensky was quoted in an NPR report.

She added that racism is a serious public health threat that directly affects the lives of Americans. Walensky said that racism is not just discrimination against one group based on race, color, and ethnicity.

Walensky said it also influences where a person lives, works, where their children play, and where they gather as a community.

Racism and Health

The CDC has launched a new web portal, which is called Racism and Health.

The web portal is designed to be a hub for public and scientific information and discussion around the matter.

CDC reported that data show racial and ethnic minority groups across the country experience higher rates of illness and death across a wide range of health conditions, as compared to their White counterparts.

These include diabetes, hypertension, asthma, and heart disease, according to CDC website.

The agency said it will address the systemic issue by implementing a number of measures, which include continuing to study the effects of racism on health outcomes.

CDC also said they would be using COVID-19 funding to address disparities in minority communities related to the COVID-19 pandemic and other health conditions, according to a Huff Post report.

Walensky became the CDC director in January under the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden. She also told her employees that the issue must be discussed agency-wide.

Latinos During the Pandemic

Latinos have been widely affected by the health and economic consequences brought by the pandemic, including a high percent of COVID-19 deaths in the community, according to an earlier NBC News report.

In addition, Latino communities are three times more likely to become infected with the pandemic. On top of that, they are about five times more likely to be hospitalized as compared to non-Hispanic whites.

Dr. Vladimir Gasca at Elmhurst Hospital in Queens, New York, said that they had hundreds of deaths in their hospital, disproportionately among the Latino population.

Gasca had worked closely with many Latino families who had relatives in hospital due to the pandemic, particularly at the start of it.

Dr. Fabrizzio Delgado, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso, observed a growing mental health toll the pandemic has brought upon Latino communities.

Delgado reported that his patients felt a lot of worry, insomnia, and lack of energy during the pandemic, adding that grief is everywhere with the Latino population.

"Either because people lost their family members or because they lost their job or because they lost normalcy in their lives," Delgado was quoted.

WATCH: CDC Director Declares Racism A 'Serious Public Health Threat' - from Breaking News Today