Dr. Bishop and Dr. Anne Zink via Alaska Black Caucus

The Alaska Black Caucus held a Zoom conference today entitled Community Conversation: Race & Health: the Impact of COVID-19 on BIPOC Communities.

The panel of guests included Anchorage School District Superintendent Dr. Deena Bishop, Alaska Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anne Zink and Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz.

The panel was asked a question by an ASD teacher who worries about students returning to school in Anchorage, and how statistically, 78% of all Covid-19 child deaths in the United States were from children of color.

Things I found interesting:

• Superintendent Bishop said that while ASD was planning for a return to school the numbers were lower/declining.
• Dr Chandler - has looked into the ability for ASD to conduct rapid testing and test students in the nurses office.
• Says families need to make their own choices and that includes continuing with online learning.

For the sake of brevity, I have clipped the pertinent part of the video, but you can watch the entire Conversation on the Alaska Black Caucus Facebook page here.