b'Lifestyleandbehavioralchangescanhelpaddress\'We Are Faced With Living With COVID\'manyofthesethingsthatareco-related.IfyoudoDr. Bell said it is critical to address chronic disease something to change your diet or change your weight,inAfricanAmericansbecausetheunderlyingrisk you can do a lot to reduce the likelihood of gettingfactorsplacethematperilformanyotherhealth these conditions, she explained. issues. The pandemic highlighted that. There was an early understanding that African Americans would be We Have Tremendous Power at increased risk for COVID, Dr. Bell said.Whileitisgreatthatwehavemedicinesand treatmentstohelpaddressmanyconditions,alltooAfricanAmericansgenerallyshowedgreater often, people rely on bottles of pills rather than morewillingness to wear masks and take other preventive holisticapproachestoimprovedhealth,Dr.Bellmeasures,Dr.Bellsaid.Whileitwasevidentthere said. Lifestyle changes will help us treat all of thosewas some hesitancy surrounding vaccination early on, conditions, to an extent, she said. efforts to turn that around were generally successful, Itsveryimportantshe said.forustounderstandWemadegreatstrides ourrisksforthoseinovercomingthat.In conditions.ItsverySouthCarolina,Black importanttoknowpeoplearenowpretty yourbloodpressureandmuchneckandneck bloodsugarlevel,Dr.withWhitepeoplein Bell said. But educatingtermsofvaccination peopleaboutapropercoverageacrossthestate diet,limitingsalts,andas a whole, she said.exercise is not enough.Althoughthediseaseis Wefocusalotonnolongerconsideredto healtheducationandsobe in the pandemic stage, manyofusknowwhatitislikelythatvariants weresupposedtodo,Drs. Myron and Linda Bell enjoy healthy cooking. ofthevirusthatcauses yet many people still struggle, Dr.COVIDaregoingtostaywith Bell said. us.Mask use is no longer widely recommended,but if the virus begins to spread at an Thats why its important to focus on environmentalelevated rate, Dr. Bell still stresses the need to take changesthatleadtolifestylechanges.Itsaprecautions when necessary.continuum, Dr. Bell said. The first thing is knowing weareatrisk,followedbyunderstandingwhatWeshouldnotignorethatourpopulationswere happensfromtheincreasedrisk,knowinghowtodevastatedbyCOVIDwithahighdeathrate, alterthosethingsandthenactuallydoingthoseparticularlyamongyoungerAfricanAmericans, things.shesaid.WhileCOVIDcaseshavedeclined significantly, quickly getting our COVID vaccination AfricanAmericanwomenshouldleadtheway,shecoverage higher is very important. We are faced with said. living with COVID. People are still getting sick from it, but if more people get vaccinated, we can live with If we are taking care of home, preparing meals, andCOVID, not die from it."making choices for our families, we havetremendous power in that role to change our own outcomes andTherearethosewhoarestillatriskbecauseof our familys, Dr. Bell said. thelongstandingproblemsthatcreateahigh IMARA9'