Ohio lawmaker sacked as physician after asking racist question about black people and hand-washing

NEW YORK (NYTIMES) - An Ohio lawmaker was fired from his job as a physician on Thursday (June 11) after asking at a hearing this week if the high rate of coronavirus cases among African Americans was because "the coloured population" did not wash their hands as well as other groups.

State senator Stephen A. Huffman, a Republican and a doctor, made his remarks on Tuesday during a hearing of the Senate Health Committee about whether to declare racism a public health crisis. They came as he speculated about reasons black people might be more "susceptible" to Covid-19.

"Could it just be that African Americans or the coloured population do not wash their hands as well as other groups or wear a mask or do not socially distance themselves?" he said. "Could that be the explanation of why the higher incidence?"

A witness before the state Senate committee, Prof Angela C. Dawson, the executive director of the Ohio Commission on Minority Health, instantly pushed back on Dr Huffman's remarks.

"That is not the opinion of leading medical experts in this country," she told him, citing the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, among others.

On Thursday, a spokesman for TeamHealth, which employed Dr Huffman as an emergency room doctor, said he had been dismissed for his remarks.

"Dr Huffman's comments are wholly inconsistent with our values and commitment to creating a tolerant and diverse workplace," Mr McHenry Lee, a TeamHealth spokesman, said in a statement. "TeamHealth has terminated Dr Huffman's employment."

Governor Mike DeWine, a Republican, also condemned Dr Huffman on Thursday evening.

"His words were inappropriate and hurtful to so many Ohioans," he said in a statement.

"Words do matter. So do actions. He is a doctor and is in a unique position because of that to play a significant role in the Legislature to work to change this serious health disparity. I hope that he will."

State senator Hearcel F. Craig, a Democrat from Columbus and member of the Legislative Black Caucus, called the remarks an example of systemic racism at a time when the Covid-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected African Americans.

"Senator Huffman also needs to understand why 'coloured' is offensive," he added. "Our nation has faced a painful segregationist history of 'coloured only' restrooms and water fountains, just to cite two examples. These practices were reprehensible and so many fought to remove them from our culture."

Dr Huffman apologised for his remarks in a statement on Thursday.

"Regrettably, I asked a question in an unintentionally awkward way that was perceived as hurtful and was exactly the opposite of what I meant," he said. "I was trying to focus on why Covid-19 affects people of colour at a higher rate since we really do not know all the reasons."

The Senate hearing on whether to declare racism a health crisis came amid widespread demonstrations against police violence and racism in Ohio, and across the country, since the killing of Mr George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Among Ohio's 38,837 reported coronavirus cases as of Monday, 56.3 per cent of patients are white and 27.3 per cent are black, according to Cleveland.com, which cited the state health department. Ohio's population is 82 per cent white and 13 per cent black. The death rate has more closely tracked the state's population. Of the deaths in which race was reported, 78.8 per cent were white, and 18 per cent were black.

Since Mr DeWine first ordered a tight lockdown in Ohio to fight the pandemic, some Republicans in the Statehouse have fiercely criticised his pace for reopening, as well as the state health director, Dr Amy Acton.

Dr Acton resigned from that position on Thursday, but Mr DeWine said she would continue to advise him.