Ohio senator fired as doctor after coronavirus question about ‘colored population’
An Ohio lawmaker who asked if “the colored population” is hit harder by COVID-19 because they “do not wash their hands as well as other groups” has been fired from his job as an emergency room doctor, news outlets reported.
Ohio Sen. Steve Huffman asked the question Tuesday during a hearing on whether to declare racism a public health crisis, the Dayton Daily News reported.
“We know it’s twice as often, correct?” Huffman asked, referring to the rate of infection among African Americans. “Could it just be that African Americans — the colored population — do not wash their hands as well as other groups?Or wear a mask? Or do not socially distance themselves? Could that just be maybe the explanation of why there’s a higher incidence?”
On Thursday, Huffman was fired from his position as an emergency room physician “for his line of questioning,” Cleveland.com reported.
“Dr. Huffman’s comments are wholly inconsistent with our values and commitment to creating a tolerant and diverse workplace,” McHenry Lee, a TeamHealth spokesman, told Cleveland.com. “TeamHealth has terminated Dr. Huffman’s employment.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio also called Thursday for Huffman to step down from public office after his comments, according to an ACLU statement. The group called his comment “explicitly racist” and said it “invoked deeply troubling sentiments and imagery.”
“Huffman must immediately step down from public office, and if he refuses to do so he must be removed from the Ohio State Senate,” J. Bennett Guess, executive director for the ACLU of Ohio, said in the statement. “As a practicing physician of nearly 20 years, he knew precisely what type of harm his ignorant, heinous, and callously hurtful comments would have on communities of color in Ohio.”
African Americans have been hit especially hard by the coronavirus pandemic, McClatchy News reported. They account for more than 30% of those who have died from COVID-19, despite making up only 13% of the U.S. population.
A lack of access to quality health care, insurance and essential resources, and underlying health conditions put people of color in the U.S. at a higher risk for coronavirus, according to McClatchy News.
Huffman later issued an apology, saying he asked the question the wrong way, McClatchy News reported.
“Regrettably, I asked a question in an unintentionally awkward way that was perceived as hurtful and was exactly the opposite of what I meant,” Huffman said, according to The Columbus Dispatch. “I was trying to focus on why COVID-19 affects people of color at a higher rate since we really do not know all the reasons.”