As the Covid-19 continues to spread in the United States where it has already caused more than 70,000 casualties, Beyoncé decided to go on the offensive.
The star, who has been rather discreet since the beginning of the pandemic (she has nevertheless given 6 million dollars to associations to help the most destitute during this crisis), announced on her website the launch of a campaign to test for the virus in her city of Houston, Texas. It will take place over two days, on 8 and 9 May.
An initiative launched with the support of his mother, Tina Knowles. The objective: to finance tests to detect as many carriers of the disease as possible so that they can then be quarantined if they are affected and thus minimize the number of transmissions and consequently the progression of the virus.
If Beyoncé sets up this initiative in her town, she hopes that other personalities will also support their hometown by allowing this mobile testing unit to go there.
As she writes in her press release on Beyonce.com, “this campaign was created to take action to encourage the black community to prioritize their health in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic.
At the “One World Together” charity concert, she was already alarmed by the situation: “African-Americans disproportionately belong to the part of the working population that does not have the luxury of being able to stay at home. The African-American community as a whole has been severely affected by the crisis.
The virus is killing black people at an alarming rate in the United States”. As of mid-April, 33.7 of those infected with covid-19 were African-Americans. They represent only 13% of the US population.