WASHINGTON— The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Pima County Health Department as the recipient of a $6.5 million grant to address COVID-19 health disparities in Southern Arizona. The funding will be used to reduce COVID-19 related deaths, improve testing and contact tracing among communities at higher risk of COVID-19, and expand the capacity of the Pima County Health Department to prevent and control COVID-19 infections moving forward.

“This pandemic has revealed what decades of inequitable care looks like as Latino, Black, and Native American communities were disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and faced higher hospitalization rates and death rates,” said Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva. “Today we are seeing a direct result of Congressional action to address these longstanding issues, and I’m thrilled Pima County is receiving this grant to tackle disparities right here in our community. They will now have funding to expand capacity, address these existing health disparities, and take measures to mitigate them. As we begin to turn the corner on the pandemic, it’s important that we take every possible effort to ensure all our communities have the positive health outcomes they deserve.”

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