New York, NY, September 20, 2020 — As the United States hits 200,000 COVID-19 deaths six months into the pandemic, the IRC expresses concern for U.S. ability to protect COVID vulnerable populations at home and abroad.
Nazanin Ash, the Vice President of Policy & Advocacy at the IRC, said, “This virus continues to prey upon and multiply deep inequality, whether in the highest or lowest-income nations worldwide.
“In the US, this is most obvious with the disproportionate impact on persons of color and rising food insecurity rates across the country. Refugees and new Americans are among those impacted by these vulnerabilities but are also the frontline workers - from healthcare to logistics - who are helping America mitigate and recover from this crisis. Refugees and immigrants in the United States make up one out of four doctors and one out of five food sector workers.
“But to beat this virus at home it must also be defeated everywhere around the world.
“The pandemic is a powerful reminder - especially during the week of the UN General Assembly and as the world is about to hit 1 million COVID-19 deaths globally - that more global cooperation, not less, is needed to defeat this virus everywhere, lest we fail to defeat it anywhere.”