COVID-19 Does Not Discriminate, America Does

If the racial health inequalities that exist in the United States were not clear enough before, the COVID-19 pandemic has certainly highlighted the structural racism that has been embedded in our nation from the start. Recent data has shown an alarming trend in the disproportionate number of African Americans contracting and dying from the virus. In Michigan, African Americans make up a third of all COVID-19 cases and 40% of deaths, yet they make up only 14% of the state's population. As of April 6th, 70% of the people who died from the virus in Louisiana were African American, yet African Americans make up less than ⅓ of the state’s population. In New York, the highest concentrations of infected individuals come from the poorest neighborhoods with large immigrant populations. While the federal government has not released much information regarding the racial dimensions of the illness, less than a dozen states have begun collecting and publicly sharing this staggering data. 

African American communities seem to be most vulnerable to the disease for various reasons.

African Americans are more likely to be part of the “essential workforce,” mainly holding jobs as cashiers, sanitation workers, and public transit employees that increases their exposure to the disease. Additionally, African Americans tend to have higher incidence of underlying health conditions, and this is due to a variety of factors including inadequate health insurance, distrust in health professionals, fear of discrimination in hospitals and clinics, lack of healthy food options and recreational facilities, and disproportionate exposure to air pollution in predominantly Black communities. With regards to COVID-19, these chronic diseases lead to hospitalizations and increased risk of mortality. Furthermore, a recent analysis has shown that doctors may be less likely to test an African American patient who is showing signs of infection. This comes as no surprise, as tons of studies have shown health care professionals are more likely to be dismissive of symptoms in people of color than in white patients. Lastly, when patients in Black communities are hospitalized, hospitals in these low-income cities, such as Detroit, tend to be far less equipped to handle the virus. 

COVID-19 has certainly shed some light on the racial inequities rooted in our nation, and I hope that this tragic wake-up call lays the groundwork for public health initiatives to decrease the burden of disease that tends to more heavily impact marginalized communities.

https://www.michigan.gov/coronavirus/0,9753,7-406-98163_98173---,00.html

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2020/04/09/why-are-blacks-dying-at-higher-rates-from-covid-19/

https://www.ama-assn.org/about/leadership/why-racial-and-ethnic-data-covid-19-s-impact-badly-needed