COMMUNITY UPDATES

A select group of Black leaders and doctors met with Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Stockton, on Friday afternoon to discuss their communities’ ongoing challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Drs. Bennet Omalu, Kim Rhodes and Otashe Golden joined Stockton’s NAACP President Bobby Bivens and East County’s NAACP Third Vice President Cheryl Cooper in conversation with McNerney. 

The panel met publicly over Zoom for just over an hour to discuss the disproportionate impact the pandemic has had in their communities in the Central Valley.  

“It is clear that there is a stark contrast between how it’s affecting different communities,” McNerney said.  

“Black Americans are almost as three times as likely to be hospitalized after contracting the virus,” he added. “Yet the vaccination rates among Black Americans and people of color remain low.” 

The congressman then proceeded to ask questions to his guests, inquiring what they were doing within their communities and what troubled those around them. 

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