Fayetteville Today

A North Carolina congressman said he called for a hearing in the health subcommittee to address minority communities being disproportionately affected by COVID-19 and used Fayetteville as an example.  

"There’s no question the #Coronavirus pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on minority communities — that’s why I called for a hearing in Congress on this topic over a month ago," Rep. Richard Hudson (R-North Carolina) posted to his Facebook page on June 17 about the hearing that took place the same day. 

The Republican congressman said he had conversations with medical professionals at Cape Fear Valley in Fayetteville about the coronavirus's impact on minority communities, particularly African Americans. 

"I shared that in Fayetteville, leadership at Cape Fear Valley hospital told me African Americans make up 57% of their #Covid-19 patients, but are just 34.9% of the population," Hudson said on Facebook. "This is both alarming and concerning."

African Americans represent 24% of COVID-19 cases in North Carolina, according to data on the Health and Human Services Department website, while the U.S. Census 2019 report estimates that the state's African-American population at 22%.  

"We need to help these communities through both education on prevention and eliminating systemic disparities that make accessing healthcare harder for these communities," Hudson said on his Facebook page.