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COVID Data Should Include Sexual Orientation, Advocates Say

Jessica Hill
/
AP

Advocates for LGBT people say the federal government has so far ignored its responsibility to collect data on the sexual orientation of COVID-19 patients. 

“Currently there's no tracking of data of the 1.7 million cases of COVID-19 and sexual orientation,” says David Kilmnick, president of the LGBT Network on Long Island. 

Kilmnick says the LGBT community on Long Island has struggled with issues like food insecurity and anxiety because of the pandemic. He spoke alongside U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York in a virtual town hall on Thursday.

Schumer says the Trump administration has not responded to a letter from congressional Democrats last week asking to collect information about sexual orientation and gender identity in coronavirus cases.

Read the latest on WSHU’s coronavirus coverage here.

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Desiree reports on the lives of military service members, veterans, and their families for WSHU as part of the American Homefront project. Born and raised in Connecticut, she now calls Long Island home.