As cases of the novel coronavirus surged nationwide this week, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) suggested that North Carolina’s Hispanic population may be harder hit by the potentially deadly virus because they are not practicing social distancing or wearing masks as frequently as other groups.
“I’m not a scientist and I’m not a statistician, but one of the concerns that we’ve had more recently is that the Hispanic population now constitutes about 44 percent of the positive cases,” Tillis, who is up for reelection in the fall, said during a Tuesday telephone town hall. “And we do have some concerns that in the Hispanic population we’ve seen less consistent adherence to social distancing and wearing a mask.”
Tillis’s remarks, which gained traction Thursday after a short audio recording of the event circulated online, were condemned as “racist” by critics who argued that the virus disproportionately impacts Hispanics because many are essential workers. By Thursday night, at least two Latino Democratic lawmakers had publicly called out Tillis for his comments, noting that there is still a resistance to mask-wearing among conservatives. Continue reading.