New London — Addressing a group gathered outside at FRESH New London's Mercer Street community garden, U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said there's "not a lot of good news here when it comes to COVID and health disparities. I mean, it's all bad news."

He pointed to the "troubling" early results on COVID-19 vaccines: As of March 22, 37% of white residents had received at least one dose compared to 20% of Black people and 16% of those who are Hispanic.

Jennifer Muggeo, deputy director of Ledge Light Health District, noted that the risk of death from COVID-19 for a 55-year-old Black man is the same for a white man in his 70s, "but our systems are not courageous enough to acknowledge that in our response."

"Imagine if the energy we spent proving racism exists could be spent dismantling it," she said.

Fawatih Mohamed-Abouh, an epidemiologist at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital, stressed the importance of recognizing the social determinants of health, such as disproportionately worse job security, that lead to worse outcomes.

These health disparities, and the fact that state and local officials are deciding how to spend billions of dollars coming to Connecticut through the American Rescue Plan, were the backdrop of Murphy's roundtable on health equity.

"If we just spend that money the same way we've been spending money for the last 10 years in this state, what a waste. What a waste," Murphy said.

The senator said he doesn't "have the ability or bandwidth" to be as involved as he'd like in how Connecticut spends the federal dollars, so he's picking his spots, such as a focus on kids and on summer programming, but not necessarily summer school.

In the short run, Murphy said, he will work with the state to make sure the money is "spent on systems change, not just funding existing systems."

At the roundtable, people from local nonprofits and the Health Improvement Collaborative of SECT, which has talked about racism as a public health risk since before the pandemic, shared how they'd like to see the money spent.

Reona Dyess, executive director of The Drop-In Learning Center and a city councilor, brought up a few ideas: expanding internet access, making sure parks are handicapped-accessible, and helping people start small gardens to grow their own fresh produce. She also talked about the struggle getting enough EpiPens for children served at the center.

Jeanne Milstein, director of human services in New London, said there needs to be accountability for how these dollars are spent, and that state agencies need to work together rather than operating in silos.

Murphy said he likes the idea of holding onto the flexibility and adaptability that some agencies have been afforded during the pandemic, and trusting local partners.

"It was the grassroots, small nonprofits that were able to be flexible," FRESH New London Executive Director Alicia McAvay said, but they often aren't included in federal funding.

Laurel Holmes, director of community partnerships at L+M, similarly said the pandemic highlights the way the work needs to happen from the bottom up, that we "don't need more bureaucracy at the state level."

e.moser@theday.com