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commUNITY spotlight: COVID, for some, it's not a disparity, but an inequity

Dr. Kenyani Davis speaks out on COVID in 2022.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Dr. Kenyani Davis of the Community Health Center has no problem talking about COVID from a medical perspective and saying we have a new normal.

"We all talked about it, what is the new normal going to look like? Guess what? We're in it, this is what the new normal is, so whatever we do tracking forward this is what it's going to look like," she said during an interview for commUNITY on WGRZ-TV, Channel 2.

Dr. Davis said much more is known about COVID-19. When it comes to a new normal, she said "I always tell my patients, as we track into this new normal, there's a great acronym that I like to use, it's called SMART. It stands for safe, mindful, reactive and treatment. So, we know the things that keep us safe, be mindful of big crowds and super spreaders, be alert in case anyone else is sick and be reactive, we now have testing."

There are plenty of ways to test for coronavirus including at-home kits.

Meanwhile underserved communities are still having problems. 

"COVID isn't a disparity, COVID is an inequity, that means as long as we have health inequities still present we're always going to have these disparities that exist. We're still lagging behind in treatment, we're still lagging behind in vaccinations, boosters. We have some people who have only had one shot, not even the second shot and we're really still struggling with boosters, so it is still affecting our community and we still have a lot of work to do," she said.

While there are new variants, Dr. Davis said "with each new mutation it gives it the chance to get stronger, or different and evade some of our treatment options, so it's always going to keep us on our toes. So the thought is the better we get as a community, the better we get with information, the better we get with treatments, hopefully we can stay ahead of it like we've been able to stay ahead of the flu."

    

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