Press Releases

U.S. Congressmen Garret Graves (LA-06) and Cedric Richmond (LA-02) sent a letter to Governor John Bel Edwards this week urging him to allocate a portion of Louisiana's share of Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) funding toward a robust research effort to better understand the risk factors and other issues contributing to the racial disparities evident in the state's COVID-19 case data. In Louisiana, COVID-19 data indicated at one point that over 70 percent of confirmed cases are amongst African Americans, who represent 32 percent of Louisiana's population.

Graves and Richmond got to work as first reports of the disproportion started emerging at the beginning of April, engaging federal and state experts at the CDC, NIH, LSU, Southern University, Pennington Biomedical Research Center and other entities about the findings and assessing what additional efforts are needed to better understand and address the disparity. Louisiana's congressional delegation also urged Gov. Edwards to carefully evaluate the specific issues at the local level and to allow for tailored responses to this public health emergency according to needs, at a parish and local government level. As the pandemic has progressed, it appears to be impacting particular areas of the state that Graves and/or Richmond represent, such as Orleans Parish, the River Region, the Houma-Thibodaux area, and the Capital Region.

In the letter, Graves and Richmond highlighted the disparities and need for more research from the governor's task force:

"Recent reports of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) cases in Louisiana indicate that 71 percent of the confirmed tests in our state are African Americans. As you know, this demographic only represents 32 percent of Louisiana's population. Clearly, we all must better understand this disproportionate number of cases affecting our African American citizens.

"The State of Louisiana has a vital role to play in this epidemic, as your announcement of a task force specifically focused on the issue of disparities shows. It is a great step to address what is clearly a crisis. Getting answers from experts is the first step, and we are glad that the task force includes representation from the top-flight researchers at Louisiana's colleges and universities."

Read the full letter to Edwards here.

The CARES Act included $1,800,000,000 for the State of Louisiana to address COVID-19 response activities, an estimated $500,000,000 for the state in funds related to our education systems, and billions of additional dollars through Social Services Block Grants, Community Development Block Grants, hospital and healthcare funding, first responder grants, law enforcement grants, and other programs.

Louisiana has several research facilities housed in the epicenter of the crisis such as LSU-AG Center's extension activities, LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Tualne and Xavier.

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