Duke professors call for more COVID-19 funds, help for black NC residents
The ongoing economic impacts of the coronavirus crisis are likely to continue taking a heavy toll on black communities, a trio of Duke University experts said during a Tuesday press briefing.
“Given the systems that we have and the political reality that we have, how do we direct as much immediate income support to families so they can get through this storm and we can get to some level where we can then begin thinking about the kind of society we want to build?” said Andrew Foster, the director of Duke Law School’s Community Enterprise Clinic.
Leaders could then begin thinking about the inequalities that have been exacerbated by COVID-19, Foster added.
Those inequalities include disparities in education, health and wealth that have left black residents in North Carolina and elsewhere more exposed to the coronavirus.
During Tuesday’s briefing, Duke professors discussed what they see as an imperative to bolster the federal CARES ACT with another coronavirus relief package that includes regular payments to Americans for the duration of the crisis, more money for small businesses and a federal jobs guarantee.
Sandy Darity, the director of Duke’s Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity, talked about the ways in which black Americans are more likely than white Americans to suffer from both the medical and economic impacts of COVID-19. In 2018, for instance, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that the median black houshold earned 59 cents for every $1 earned by the median white household.
“Under any emergency circumstances, black families have significantly less resources to function as a cushion,” Darity said, “and they do not have the resources to have access to the best health care or the best preventive measures to ensure that one has better health.
“So as a consequence we’re seeing these staggering numbers that are associated with racial disparities and the mortality from COVID-19.”
In North Carolina, black residents make up a disproportionate amount of both those who have tested positive for COVID-19 and those who have died from it.
A national health insurance program, Darity said, would mean guaranteed access to testing and treatment.
Darity also said it is important to guarantee not only access to wi-fi, but also to the smartphones and computers that can access that wi-fi. Wake County education leaders have committed to such an effort, the News & Observer has previously reported, pledging to put hotspots and computers in the hands of students who need them during the coronavirus shutdown.
Mental health impact
Anna Gassman-Pines, an associate professor of public policy, psychology and neuroscience had an ongoing study looking at service workers who are also parents in a city in the Northeastern United States when that city told non-essential workers to stay home. Before the crisis, Gassman-Pines said, about 6.5% of the workers said they felt angry or irritated all the time. Afterward, those negative feelings more than doubled to about 14% of the participants.
Furthermore, the majority of the families who participated in the survey reported that at least one adult in the family had been laid off as a result of the coronavirus, leaving many families unable to afford bills, groceries and rent in April.
“The majority of service workers do not have savings, they are not well-positioned to weather this kind of serious crisis and when they become disconnected from work, that is having an immediate impact on their ability to cover basic living expenses,” Gassman-Pines said.
The United Way’s 2-1-1 helpline refers callers to many resources such as food, rental assistance and mental health services. In the first 13 days of April 2020, the helpline received 180,936 calls compared to 6,315 calls during the same period in 2019.
If the economic situation worsens, Gassman-Pines warned, there is a likelihood that young people will see their mental health deteriorate. Parents should watch out, she added, for children who are uncooperative all or most of the time.
Gassman-Pines’ previous research has shown that economic downturns can cause adolescents to consider suicide more frequently. Tuesday, she said that is particularly worrisome for black children, whose families are more likely to suffer economically as a result of the coronavirus shutdown.
“I worry about a worsening of disparities in serious mental health challenges, especially for young people,” Gassman-Pines said.
More funding for small businesses?
Foster called the CARES Act “ a good start” in bolstering the economy, but said he believes another $4 trillion package is necessary, followed by targeted interventions to help the groups most vulnerable to the coronavirus, as well as $500 billion to help bolster states’ budgets.
That new relief package should also, Foster said, including funding for regular payments to families, as well as $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion for small businesses — an extension of the Paycheck Protection Program that was meant to provide low-interest loans to small businesses.
“We really do need to significantly invest in small businesses so that they’re able to maintain their work forces, because it’s much harder to get people re-employed than to keep them employed,” Foster said.
More than 500,000 North Carolinians have filed for unemployment since mid-March, the News & Observer has reported, with many lodging concerns about website glitches and hours-long phone wait times.
Adding funds to the Paycheck Protection Program could help avoid some mental health and psychological consequences by providing relief quickly, said Gassman-Pines, who also called for an expansion of the SNAP program that provides food benefits.
“Employers in the United States know how to run payroll,” Gassman-Pines said, “and if the government can provide dollars for them to continue to to do that, that is a way of getting dollars into the hands of workers quickly and immediately.”
This reporting is financially supported by Report for America/GroundTruth Project and The North Carolina Local News Lab Fund, a component fund of the North Carolina Community Foundation. The News & Observer maintains full editorial control of the work. To support the future of this reporting, subscribe or donate.
This story was originally published April 14, 2020 at 5:56 PM.