HLS 20RS-2376 ORIGINAL
2020 Regular Session
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 61
BY REPRESENTATIVES DUPLESSIS, LANDRY, FREEMAN, HUGHES, NEWELL,
AND WILLARD
HEALTH: Urges and requests the La. Department of Health to study and report on the
matter of racial disparities in COVID-19 death rates in this state
1 A RESOLUTION
2To urge and request the Louisiana Department of Health to study the matter of racial
3 disparities in COVID-19 death rates in this state and to report findings of the study
4 to the House of Representatives of the Legislature of Louisiana.
5 WHEREAS, the ongoing global outbreak of respiratory disease caused by a novel
6coronavirus and named "coronavirus disease 2019", abbreviated as "COVID-19", has been
7recognized as a pandemic since March 11, 2020; and
8 WHEREAS, in Louisiana and throughout the United States, the COVID-19 pandemic
9is challenging our society in myriad, unprecedented ways; and
10 WHEREAS, as of the date of filing of this Resolution, Louisiana has registered
11nearly two thousand seven hundred officially reported deaths from COVID-19; and
12 WHEREAS, Louisiana's per capita rates of COVID-19 infections and deaths have
13been and continue to rank among the highest of all U.S. states; and
14 WHEREAS, the tremendous overall loss of life from this sudden epidemic of
15infectious disease that Louisiana has endured is a profound tragedy; and
16 WHEREAS, worsening this tragedy is the vast racial disparity in COVID-19
17mortality in this state and across the nation; and
18 WHEREAS, a report by APM Research Lab entitled "Color of Coronavirus" released
19on May 20, 2020, presents evidence of an enormous discrepancy between the death rate of
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HR NO. 61
1black Americans and that of the rest of the nation's populace; the report indicates that black
2Americans have died of COVID-19 at almost three times the rate of white Americans; and
3 WHEREAS, researchers at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center
4at New Orleans began examining coronavirus patients at the outset of the pandemic, and
5their findings with respect to the disease process and patient physiology published on May
627, 2020, in the medical journal The Lancet have shed some early light on the precise
7medical reasons for African Americans experiencing more severe complications and deaths
8related to COVID-19; and
9 WHEREAS, while Louisiana is deeply beloved to nearly all who call her "home",
10she suffers both from persistent social ills borne of a legacy of racial injustice and from
11public health outcomes that are consistently among the worst in the United States; and
12 WHEREAS, the extent to which the problems of institutional racism and health
13inequality are intertwined is becoming clearer as research on these subjects mounts; and
14 WHEREAS, as evidenced in part by the adoption of House Resolution No. 294 and
15Senate Resolution No. 240 of the 2019 Regular Session addressing racial disparities in
16maternal and child health outcomes and the alarming rate of mortality for African American
17infants and mothers in Louisiana, the legislature was aware prior to COVID-19 of threats to
18public health that impact our state's people unequally; and
19 WHEREAS, the COVID-19 public health emergency is bringing the issue of health
20equity into sharp focus; and
21 WHEREAS, it is vitally important for the legislature, as the policymaking branch of
22this state's government, to address health equity in a meaningful way through public policy;
23and
24 WHEREAS, in order to do so, members of the legislature must gain a deeper
25understanding of the unique problems that threaten the health, well-being, and very existence
26of black lives in Louisiana.
27 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the
28Legislature of Louisiana does hereby urge and request the Louisiana Department of Health
29to study the matter of racial disparities in COVID-19 death rates in this state.
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HR NO. 61
1 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that in conducting the study called for in this
2Resolution, the Louisiana Department of Health shall engage and solicit input from the
3governor's COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force.
4 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Louisiana Department of Health shall submit
5findings from the study called for in this Resolution to each member of the House of
6Representatives of the Legislature of Louisiana and to the David R. Poynter Legislative
7Research Library no later than sixty days prior to the convening of the 2021 Regular Session
8of the legislature.
9 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
10secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and to each member of the governor's
11COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force.
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HR 61 Original 2020 Regular Session Duplessis
Urges and requests the La. Department of Health (LDH) to study the matter of racial
disparities in COVID-19 death rates. Requires LDH to submit findings from the study to
each member of the House of Representatives no later than 60 days prior to the convening
of the 2021 R.S.
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