No disease can be called an equalizer in a health care system where skin color continues to influence who lives and dies.

The reports emerging in Massachusetts and across the country make clear that communities of color are once again bearing the brunt of a national crisis.

Black and brown patients are facing higher death rates from COVID-19, lower quality of care and barriers to testing.

These inequities are familiar, unsurprising, and inexcusable.

They plague not just our health care, but our housing, immigration policies, criminal justice, transportation, environmental protection, and every other corner of our system -- compounding today in unthinkable tragedy for too many families.

Even in MA – home to some of the greatest health care facilities in the world – health care injustice is a defining feature of our response.

No matter how brave, strong, or good our providers are, they are no match for the racial inequities rooted deeply in our system.

We need data to expose, confront and address these disparities -- not just because it is the right thing to do but because it is necessary to get ahead of a pandemic that shows no signs of abating soon.

Massachusetts could -- and should -- set a standard here for the rest of the nation to follow.

That's why I'm calling on our public health officials to collect and release racial data on COVID-19. https://kennedy.house.gov/newsroom/press-releases/kennedy-asks-mass-dph-to-collect-and-release-racial-data-on-covid-19