[act-ma] Sunday @ 830 pm EDT-Build the National People's Health Movement Now!!

Sat Jun 13 20:14:57 PDT 2020

Ehrman, Howard <hehrman at uic.edu> writes

Zoom Invite Below-

Join Raoul Contreras from Mi Villita Neighbors, Matt Brandon and 
Jennifer Edwards from Communities Organized to Win (COW), Dr. Howard 
Ehrman, University of Illinois, Paul Siegel from Northside Action for 
Justice to get COVID19 Jobs & Build the National People’s Health 
Movement Now!

1) What you can do Now to Build a National Health Movement?
2) Community, Workplace and School Organizing, Data, & Planning
3. What is contact tracing & job applications?
4) Why we must increase testing for contact testing to work
5) How to Stop contact tracing from invading our privacy, increasing 
racial profiling by police, ICE
6.Defund Police, Police Out of Schools & COVID19

*What is below and attached applies everywhere in the US not just Chicago*

Zoom meeting.
Sunday, June 14, 2020  7:30 PM Central Time

Register in advance for this meeting:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/uZAqfuCppj0tCrp3l0NPshJ8LD1qR1sgwA

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing 
information about joining the meeting.

V. 2

COVID19 Chicago & Illinois Community Based Participatory Planning & 
Research

June 12, 2020

If you want to *volunteer* to work Together to Bring COVID19 under 
Control email me:

Howard Ehrman, MD, MPH

hehrman at uic.edu <mailto:hehrman at uic.edu>

A community, worker and student based, grass roots, participatory public 
health program must be built from the ground up by those most affected 
to deal with COVID19. Decisions of *what to do when, how to do it and 
with whom must be made by those most affected now and going forward with 
funding coming from the federal, state and city governments.*

We are going to work together for us to create a People’s Plan to 
Control COVID19 by June 30th

1. Where are the best places in *my zip code* that COVID19 Testing 
should take place, the best hours every day.

Without free COVID19 testing, easily accessible, no appointment, 
symptoms or no symptoms, no insurance needed, in community grocery 
stores, pharmacies, churches and other sites neighbors *feel comfortable 
going to*, as well as mobile van and door to door testing, contact 
tracing to control COVID19 is not possible and will not work now or in 
the future.

2. Which people in our community zip code do we know that should be 
hired to do testing and contact tracing-not just by calling someone on 
the phone who does not answer, but *by going to where they live*

**

3. What resources will COVID19 positive patients, family household 
members and their contacts need to *stay isolated or quarantined for 14 
days*-housing, food, money to pay utility and other bills, rent, 
mortgage, etc.

4. Which *community-based organizations, churches and agencies* in our 
community zip code have *proven themselves to deliver those resources*. 
These organizations must *get extra money from federal, state and 
Chicago COVID19 **“Stimulus” funds* to provide these extra resources 
needed for COVID19 positive patients, their family household members and 
their contacts

5. Which *community-based organizations, churches and agencies* in our 
community zip code have *proven themselves to go door to door to educate 
and mobilize our neighbors to get tested ASAP, distribute PPE, 
sanitizers, and why cooperating with contact tracers is a matter of life 
or death. *. These organizations must *get extra money from federal, 
state and Chicago COVID19 **“Stimulus” funds* to educate, mobilize every 
household on every block in our community including funds to distribute 
PPE, masks, sanitizer.

**

*6. *Which *community-based organizations, churches and agencies* in our 
community zip code have *proven themselves to help people get jobs? *

*Jobs needed now-testing, contact tracer, resource coordination, 
supervisor and coordinator jobs. *These organizations must *get extra 
money from federal, state and Chicago COVID19 **“Stimulus” **funds* to 
recruit people from those Black & Brown zip codes with the highest 
COVID19 infection and death rates to get COVID19 jobs with the *State of 
Illinois, Cook County, City of Chicago, Community Based Organizations, 
and Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC)*

**

*7. Why must we all Unite NOW to stop the *City of Chicago’s Illegal 
Plan to replace the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) for the 
first time in history with a *Private For-Profit or Non-Profit Agency* 
to be in charge of Contact Tracing which will lead to higher infection 
and death rates in Black & Brown communities and increased racial 
profiling by police & ICE.

As of June 9, 2020 Illinois 
<https://www.dph.illinois.gov/covid19/covid19-statistics> has tested 
1,100,002 people.

Of those 129,837 or 12% have tested positive. However, in the last week 
those testing positive in Northeastern Illinois 
<https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/ct-viz-coronavirus-cases-in-illinois-20200304-wz44mgw6wrd5zmzngx4kc3z6a4-htmlstory.html> 
have fallen to 8.8%.

Yet, in 14 predominately African American and Latino Chicago zip codes 
and 7 more outside of Chicago, *infection rates are above 20% and 30%, 
the highest being 36%.* 
<https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/ct-viz-covid-19-cases-by-zip-code-20200407-aikakoyycje4fbqvferzjffkg4-htmlstory.html>

6,095 people have died of COVID19.

Despite being 15% of Illinois population, African Americans account for 
29% of state deaths 
<https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/ct-viz-coronavirus-cases-in-illinois-20200304-wz44mgw6wrd5zmzngx4kc3z6a4-htmlstory.html>, 
45% of Chicago deaths 
<https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/sites/covid-19/home/latest-data.html>, 
17% of state infections and 30% of Chicago infections.

Latinos are 17% of Illinois’ population yet account for 20% of all state 
COVID19 deaths 
<https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/ct-viz-coronavirus-cases-in-illinois-20200304-wz44mgw6wrd5zmzngx4kc3z6a4-htmlstory.html>, 
31% of Chicago deaths, 32% of state infections and 48% of Chicago 
infections 
<https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/sites/covid-19/home/latest-data.html>.

Last week The State of Illinois took an important step forward in 
announcing its testing sites will test *anyone regardless of whether 
they have symptoms or not, regardless of insurance and immigration 
status*. However Illinois only has 11 testing sites in the entire state, 
only 2 of whom are in Chicago.<http://dph.illinois.gov/testing>

<http://dph.illinois.gov/testing>

Most other sites require appointments, are not known in the communities 
in which they are located and other obstacles which keep testing numbers 
below capacity.

Here is how you can help and what you can do now: research *your own 
neighborhood* *zip code in Chicago and Illinois* to work and organize 
together with others to begin to bring COVID19 under control by getting 
the resources to where they are most needed!

1. Go to the COVID Tracking Project <https://covidtracking.com/>to get 
the big, most accurate picture of U.S. statistics

2. Go to the sister COVID Racial Data Tracker 
<https://covidtracking.com/race> run by the Antiracist Research & Policy 
Center <https://www.bu.edu/antiracist-center/founders-statement/> to get 
the truth about how COVID19 is affecting People of Color the most.

3. Look through the Illinois COVID19 statistics 
<https://www.dph.illinois.gov/covid19/covid19-statistics> and City of 
Chicago statistics 
<https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/sites/covid-19/home/latest-data.html>

4. Go to the Chicago zip code and community area map 
<https://www.chicago.gov/content/dam/city/sites/covid/reports/2020-04-24/ChicagoCommunityAreaandZipcodeMap.pdf> 
and find your own zip code and community area

5. Use these 3 free zip code databases to find the statistics of who 
lives in your zip code:

http://geometrx.com/free-demos-by-zip/ 
<http://geometrx.com/free-demos-by-zip/>

https://zipwho.com/ <https://zipwho.com/>

https://www.unitedstateszipcodes.org/60623/ 
<https://www.unitedstateszipcodes.org/60623/>

5. Write down the total population, geographic area in square miles, 
income, education level, race, gender, age, people per household, home 
value, economic properties, and more stats of each zip code

6. Chicago has 77 community areas. Each zip code covers at least 2 
community areas. Find the largest 1-2 community areas and write down 
their economic hardship index 
<https://greatcities.uic.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/GCI-Hardship-Index-Fact-SheetV2.pdf>

7. Find and list all the testing sites in your zip code 
<http://dph.illinois.gov/testing>, their hours and any restrictions like 
appointments required.

8. Find and list the total people tested, total cases, and rate per 
100,000 in your zip code 
<https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/ct-viz-covid-19-cases-by-zip-code-20200407-aikakoyycje4fbqvferzjffkg4-htmlstory.html>

9. Find and list Cook County Health Centers 
<https://cookcountyhealth.org/our-locations/>, University of Illinois 
Mile Square Health Centers 
<https://hospital.uillinois.edu/patients-and-visitors/mile-square-federally-qualified-health-center>, 
and Federally Qualified Health Centers 
<https://findahealthcenter.hrsa.gov/> in your zip code.

10. Please put everything above in an Excel Sheet Database and email me 
the results

Together We Can Win!

This data will be one step in building a citywide force to prevent the 
type of fiasco we saw today in the Chicago City Council Finance 
Committee’s approval 
<https://chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/2020/6/10/21287049/coronavirus-federal-stimulus-cares-act-city-council-spending-plan> 
of the $1.1 Billion Federal COVID19 Stimulus package with:

$377 Million are going to Midway & O’Hare Airports!!

Only $4.5 Million for Food Assistance

Only $11 Million for Community Health Care

Only $40 Million to prepare for a 2^nd COVID19 surge in the fall

Only $16.5 million for rental, mortgage and legal assistance for 
homeowners facing foreclosure.

Only $5 Million for broadband for students without internet access

$189.3 million for a “public health response” that includes contact 
tracing, lab testing and testing personnel;

Howard Ehrman, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor
University of Illinois College of Medicine
Mi Villita Community Organization
https://www.facebook.com/mi.villita.90