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With mass protests over systemic racism, people trade 1 health risk for another - YouTube
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JUDY WOODRUFF: The sheer magnitude of protests
in the streets has raised public health questions
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as well. If people are not social distancing,
and they're gathering in the thousands, even
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tens of thousands, are they exposing themselves
to a greater risk of COVID?
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And how should that risk be weighed against
public health concerns over the lives and
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living conditions of African-Americans?
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Lisa Desjardins explores some of that now.
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LISA DESJARDINS: Judy, those questions are
part of what protesters, physicians, and public
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health officials have been weighing as people
mobilize.
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In fact, nearly 1,300 public health professionals
signed a letter supporting the protests, arguing
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that systemic racism is a health problem,
that it has contributed or led to a disproportionate
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number of deaths among African-Americans.
More than 20,000 African-Americans have died
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from COVID already. The numbers are incomplete,
but indicate that blacks, who make up 13 percent
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of the population in the U.S., account for
24 percent of the deaths from COVID-19.
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Dr. Georges Benjamin is executive director
of the American Public Health Association.
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Dr. Benjamin, I want to start right away with
how we balance these two things. These protests
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are happening about a public health crisis,
African-Americans being killed or harmed by
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police. But they're also happening in a public
health crisis, the coronavirus.
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How do you weigh those two things?
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DR. GEORGES BENJAMIN, Executive Director,
American Public Health Association: You know,
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it is a difficult decision.
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But people have to make a risk-based decision,
recognizing that there is a risk in going
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out. They may get infected.
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But the challenge is that particularly African-Americans
are fearful each and every day. And that's
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a risk that we have to take.
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Now, I tell folks that, if you are going to
go out, then you need to protect yourself.
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You need to wear masks. You need to carry
hand sanitizer. You need to try to physically
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distance as much as you can, but understand
you are carrying a risk when you go in public
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like that.
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LISA DESJARDINS: I want to ask more specifics
about that for people going out.
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Should they be doing things like shouting,
for example? And how do they keep from kind
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of getting into other people's space, even
when they are in a small base? Also, how about
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the authorities? What should they be doing
to try and minimize the COVID exposure for
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themselves and for the people there?
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We have seen a lot of reports about how the
use of tear gas may be a health problem because
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of this. Can you talk to both of those groups?
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DR. GEORGES BENJAMIN: So, absolutely.
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So, to those individuals that are out there,
again, just trying to stay as physically separate
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as you can, recognizing that, yes, you're
going to talk, you're going to shout. The
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more you do that, the more likely you will
put yourself at risk, but keeping your mask
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on as much as you can.
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And for the police, tear gassing is a problem.
You should use that under very, very strict
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guidance. It causes inflammation of the lungs.
It causes people to cough. They will take
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off their masks.
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This kettling, putting people in a in a little
box, which brings them all together, is a
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problem. And, of course, the plastic bullets,
those rubber bullets that they talk about
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the being nonlethal, are also very, very,
very dangerous.
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But this is a global phenomenon, and we see
that people are very concerned. And, as a
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nation, this is a phenomena. And people are
making a risk-based decision that they'd much
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rather be out there letting people know that
black lives matter, vs. -- and taking that
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risk each and every day, vs. the risk that
they take simply walking down the street being
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black.
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LISA DESJARDINS: I want to come back to that
big picture in a second, but one more specific
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question about how this works.
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We're learning a little bit more about how
the virus spreads. Do you have a sense of
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the best and worst case of what may happen
in these crowd situations from the virus spread
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right now?
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DR. GEORGES BENJAMIN: Anybody that can tell
you that they can really model it, they can't
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really tell you.
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But we do know that it will increase. We will
get people that will be sicker. The good news
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is, the vast majority of folks that get this
disease have a mild case. But the concern
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is for that 15 to 20 percent that have a very
severe case.
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And just to point out that anyone with a chronic
disease, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease,
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lung disease, you are at greater risk. And
we also know that communities of color, particularly
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African-Americans, are even more at risk,
because they disproportionately have those
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diseases.
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LISA DESJARDINS: You are the executive director
of the American Public Health Association.
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I have to ask you, looking in a much bigger
way, which is our privilege to do here on
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"NewsHour," where would you place the role
of race -- this is a big question -- in American
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health? What does it -- what kind of effect
does it have in our system?
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DR. GEORGES BENJAMIN: Race, tragically, is
the original sin which causes health inequities.
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And we need to change things so that we value
all people equally. And if we don't do that,
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we're not going to really be prosperous as
a society. Race matters.
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LISA DESJARDINS: Some people are looking at
these protests and saying, wait a minute,
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most states still are not allowing large gatherings.
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Even as we phase in some reopening, people
aren't supposed to be meeting in groups of
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25 or 50. But they are allowing these protests.
You support these protests. Can you tell us
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why?
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DR. GEORGES BENJAMIN: You know, I believe
everyone has to make a risk-based decision
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in life.
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I would prefer that George didn't get killed.
I would prefer that we didn't have police
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brutality. I'm a strong supporter of sound
policing. But when things get out of control,
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as they have in our society, then we have
to speak out, we have to do something.
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And the American Public Health Association
has been a strong proponent of human rights.
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And we would not be who we were if we did
not believe in this social judgment movement
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that we're seeing.
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It is a risk. But, at the end of the day,
if we don't take this risk right now, when
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are we going to do it?
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LISA DESJARDINS: Dr. 脝MDNM脴Georges Benjamin
of the American Public Health Association,
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thank you for joining us.
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DR. GEORGES BENJAMIN: Thank you.
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