Racism Declared Public Health Crisis In Windsor

WINDSOR, CT — The Windsor Town Council unanimously approved a resolution Monday night that declares racism as a public health crisis, according to NBC Connecticut.

NBC reports the resolution states that “minorities are more likely to experience poor health outcomes as a consequence of inequities in economic stability, education, physical environment, food, and access to health care.”

The resolution proposes enhancing education to “understand, address and dismantle racism” along with improving data collection and analysis to see the impacts of initiatives and policies, according to NBC Connecticut.

State Sen. Saud Anwar, D-South Windsor, sent a letter to Gov. Ned Lamont Monday asking him to declare racism as a public health emergency in Connecticut. Anwar, who is a practicing doctor, said the coronavirus pandemic has “harmed members of the African American and Hispanic communities disproportionately compared to others, the latest example of inherent disparities evident in the health care field.”

Anwar said he has seen first-hand the impacts of such racial disparities.

"It is well recognized that racial bias and discrimination have significant negative physical and mental health consequences," Anwar wrote in the letter to Lamont. He noted that depression, anxiety, hypertension, breast cancer and pre-term births are among the conditions that are more likely to be diagnosed when an individual struggles with racial bias and discrimination. COVID-19 is just the latest example where minority populations are disproportionately harmed by public health crises, he said.

Windsor is the first town in Connecticut to pass a resolution on the subject.

Read more at NBC Connecticut here.