Yonkers leads Westchester in COVID-19 cases, and now the city, because inequities have existed for generations, and it’s something we cannot ignore.

Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano says that as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unveil the deficiencies in all of our systems, racial disparities — particularly the disproportionate number of black people dying — top the list. 

Sadly, the statistics in Yonkers echo trends across the country.

Several community organizations are working with Mayor Mike Spano to develop a Health Equity Task Force to improve the health of minorities, immigrants and the elderly.

Most cite racial discrimination as the underlying issue to the high number of poor health conditions in.

The simple answer, some doctors say, is racial inequity, and its No. 1 symptom: poverty.

Minorities make up a little more than half of the population In Yonkers.

The ZIP codes with the highest infection rates are in southwest Yonkers and are centered around minority communities.

Living in these communities in the city of hills means a lack of access to quality health care, the scarcity of healthy food, and living in dangerous areas with high crime rates and high pollution.

All these factors harm the body.

Compounded with the high numbers of people cohabitating in close living quarters, which creates extra hurdles when it comes to sanitization and isolation, black communities are a hotbed for crises.

There’s an African-American saying that when America catches a cold, black people get the flu.

Well, America has a virus and disease epidemic, and black people along with other minority communities have caught the plague.

None of this is new information, but add the deadly coronavirus disease to an already ticking bomb and dragging our feet by simply acknowledging the problems is no longer satisfactory, if it ever was.

Yonkers’ minority communities need real solutions now

The next step for the task force is to collect information and create a so-called health equity score card that will highlight gaps and opportunities to close health disparities that affect minority and immigrant populations.

What is it going to take to flatten the COVID-19 curve for minority communities in the city of hills?

We won’t know that until we have more comprehensive data, some say.

The Mayor says he hopes the task force will improve and expand health care to those who have been affected by COVID-19.

But the truth is that Yonkers’ medical health professionals must be made more aware of the health costs of racial justice to be able to meet people’s needs in this pandemic.