The African American COVID Taskforce Plus (AACT+) includes members from more than 20 organizations
Early in 2020, Duke Family Medicine residents Dr. Roosevelt Campbell and Dr. Andrew Flynn began noticing a disturbing trend in their clinics. The COVID-19 pandemic, wreaking havoc in every part of American life, seemed to be disproportionately hitting communities of color. In May, Black Durham residents were 40% less likely to be tested for COVID-19, yet more than twice as likely to test positive when compared to white residents.
“COVID testing sites were primarily in white neighborhoods and information about testing, medical care, and prevention was not equitably distributed through the city,” said Flynn. “Most significantly, in the early stages of the pandemic and into the summer, Black people in North Carolina were dying of COVID at almost twice the rate of other people.”
During his clinical rotation at Lincoln Community Health Center, Campbell and Dr. Holly Biola, Chief of Family Medicine at Lincoln, discussed the success of a group of local providers, researchers, educators, and community advocates who were meeting via Zoom to tackle similar disparities in the Latinx community. In fact, Campbell and Flynn had been attending the weekly calls with the Latinx Advocacy Team & Interdisciplinary Network for COVID-19, or LATIN-19 since its inception in March 2020.
“This group was tapping into grassroots community stakeholders to discuss barriers and challenges,” said Biola, “and they were finding success with innovative ways to mitigate the overall impact of COVID-19.” Through her connections, Dr. Biola would soon help Campbell and Flynn link to several members of the African American faith community.
According to Campbell, the LATIN-19 group was very effective at leveraging connections and knowledge about needs in the community and disseminating vital information about the virus and testing. “They were debunking myths about COVID-19 and how it was spread,” said Campbell.
Dr. Viviana Martinez-Bianchi, former program director of Duke Family Medicine Residency and one of the founders of LATIN-19, advised that a similar group should form to address the needs of the African American community. She introduced Campbell during a Partnership for Healthy Durham Access to Care Committee meeting in June where he presented the idea. Members of the community expressed interest and with their approval, Campbell and Flynn set out to schedule the first meeting.
“We needed to pull together well-connected stakeholders within the African American community in Durham to discuss the immediate needs related to the pandemic and help to disseminate accurate information to the community members,” said Campbell.
The first formal meeting of the AA/Black COVID Community Response group was held on June 17. Now named the African American COVID Taskforce Plus (AACT+), this diverse team has been meeting weekly with attendance between 40 and 60 people. Guest speakers from community organizations and Duke share stories about their firsthand experiences with the pandemic and draw on their collective knowledge, energy, and influence to create necessary change. These presentations from the community and frontline workers help to inform and guide planning efforts and action items for AACT+.
“Dr. Campbell and Dr. Flynn started up a group that included members of Duke Health, Lincoln Community Health Center, the Durham County Department of Public Health, Community Health Coalition (CHC), Durham Together for Resilient Youth, Durham Academy for Physicians, Pharmacists and Dentists (DAMDP), Old North State Medical Society (ONSS), and the Inter-Denominational Ministerial Alliance,” said Biola. “From there it has grown to include representatives from Partnership Effort for the Advancement of Children’s Health, Durham Public Schools, Senior PharmAssist, and GeriatRx, among others, and the number of participants just continues to grow.”