CU-CitizenAccess.org (https://www.cu-citizenaccess.org/tag/testing/)
There has been concern nationally about the ability of people of color to get tested for COVID-19, especially because they have been identified as more vulnerable to the virus.
Melaney Arnold, public health information officer at the Illinois Department of Public Health, wrote in an email, “The data show Black and Hispanic populations are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.”
The Illinois legislature is sending a bill to Governor Bruce Rauner that requires the state to screen newborns for a genetic neurological muscle disease because there is a promising new drug to treat the condition. But even if the governor signs the bill, testing for newborns may not start until 2020. The disease, which is known as spinal muscular atrophy, is a sometimes fatal, progressive neuromuscular disease that causes the wasting away or atrophying of muscles over time. Patients suffering from SMA can lose the ability to walk, eat and breathe. SMA can be treated with the drug Spinraza, but for Spinraza to be most effective, early detection of SMA is crucial.