Even though Latinos only make up about a fifth of the population in Montgomery County, they accounted for 74 percent of its 3,000 new coronavirus cases in June, according to the county’s health department.
Subsequently, the county council introduced Tuesday a health regulation to create more testing sites and contact tracing and County Executive Marc Elrich said he plans to expand testing in communities of color, including pop-up testing sites in some neighborhoods ravaged by the virus, WTTG-TV (Channel 5) reported.
Action in Montgomery, an advocacy organization, has requested free coronavirus testing outside of churches and places easily accessible by public transportation.
County Council member Nancy Navarro (District 4) said the revelation of Latino confirmed cases’ percentages could affect the county’s fight against the coronavirus.
“For many of us, it was absolutely devastating after months of weekly meetings of proposing specific strategies,” Navarro told WTTG. “We know that if one community is disproportionately affected it’s going to have an impact on the entire jurisdiction.”
