The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed great acts of humanity and all that is good about Maine people, as we come together to face these challenging times. But it also has revealed deep and painful inequities worthy of our attention and action.

In Maine and across the nation, racial and ethnic minorities have been hit harder by COVID-19, leaving our friends and neighbors grieving the loss of loved ones, friends and neighbors. This grief is compounded for our black community which is also processing the trauma of the recent killing of George Floyd.

As Gov. Janet Mills told the president last week, we need now to heal, from this virus that is robbing people “of their breath and their life. To heal from the actions that robbed George Floyd of his dignity, his breath and his life.” This healing begins by reckoning with the generational and structural racism that has led us to this moment.

Across the nation, racial minorities are suffering and dying from COVID-19 at higher rates. The Navajo nation has had one of the highest per capita rates of infection in our nation. Black people make up 13% of the U.S. population, but account for 24% of the COVID-19 deaths where race is known. The economic consequences have been similarly disproportionate. According to the Pew Research Center, 40% of Latinos have had to take a pay cut and nearly 29% have lost employment.

Here in Maine, Hispanics comprise 1.7% of our population, but nearly 3% of all COVID-19 cases where race is known. Black people in Maine comprise only 1.4% of the population, but account for about 21% of all COVID-19 cases where race is known. The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention is expanding its reporting on cases of COVID-19 by race on its website.

Maine people on the frontlines of our economy — selling us groceries, caring for our elderly and sick, cleaning our hospitals, policing our communities, and processing our food — risk contracting the virus and passing it onto their families more than those who can work from computers at home. People of color disproportionately work in such professions, and disproportionately live in areas where population density makes physical distancing difficult.

COVID-19 does not discriminate. However, throughout history, and in our own time, people do discriminate. For generations, policies and practices have created structural inequities that leave some people more susceptible to the dire consequences of infectious disease than others.

These challenges began long before COVID-19. They could continue long beyond it.  Yet, the response to this global pandemic offers the opportunity to break down policies, practices and assumptions that have the real-world result of preventable sickness and death.

That work includes the Mills Administration’s expanded engagement of stakeholders and people with lived experience. It also requires policy change. The Maine Department of Health and Human Services has increased access to life-saving benefits such as MaineCare, since lack of health coverage contributes to health disparities. We’ve promoted economic opportunity through programs like HOPE that link higher education with child care and social supports. And we’re supporting our own workforce in improving cultural competencies through regular training so they can meet the needs of all Maine communities.

Throughout this pandemic, we have increased translations of public health information about COVID-19 into as many as 11 different languages to ensure that all Maine people know how to stay safe.

We continue our work to reduce barriers to testing and treatment by expanding testing capacity and creating accessible testing locations. DHHS has entered into several contracts which will provide culturally appropriate supports and services to communities across the state.

But there is still more to do. We must ensure that people of color have the same access to these essential health services, that their symptoms are taken seriously, and that their diagnosis and next steps are clearly explained in culturally appropriate ways and with the help of trusted voices in their communities.

We need to continue to deepen our efforts to partner with community leaders and advocates to ensure that we are designing interventions and mitigation strategies that work for all Maine people. We cannot take a “one-size-fits-all” approach in our fight to keep all Maine families and our neighbors healthy.

The year 2020, our bicentennial birthday as an independent state, will be remembered as the year that Maine battled the COVID-19 pandemic. We hope it will also be marked by progress in battling disparities and inequities that have made some Maine people, because of their color or location, more vulnerable to disease and death. We will emerge stronger and more united if we continue on this path.

True to our state motto, we will lead in ways that benefit all of us.

Jeanne Lambrew is commissioner of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services. 

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