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Early
Data
Shows
African
Americans
Have
Contracted
and Died
of
Coronavirus
at an
Alarming
Rate
Akilah
Johnson,
and
Talia
Buford
ProPublica.Org
As
public
health
officials
watched
cases
rise in
March,
too many
in the
community
shrugged
off
warnings.
Rumors
and
conspiracy
theories
proliferated
on
social
media,
pushing
the
bogus
idea
that
black
people
are
somehow
immune
to the
disease.
And much
of the
initial
focus
was on
international
travel,
so those
who knew
no one
returning
from
Asia or
Europe
were
quick to
dismiss
the
risk.
Then,
when the
shelter-in-place
order
came,
there
was a
natural
pushback
among
those
who
recalled
other
painful
government
restrictions
—
including
segregation
and mass
incarceration
— on
where
black
people
could
walk and
gather.
In
Michigan,
where
the
state’s
population
is 14%
black,
African
Americans
made up
35% of
cases
and 40%
of
deaths
as of
Friday
morning.
Detroit,
where a
majority
of
residents
are
black,
has
emerged
as a hot
spot
with a
high
death
toll. As
has New
Orleans.
Louisiana
has not
published
case
breakdowns
by race,
but 40%
of the
state’s
deaths
have
happened
in
Orleans
Parish,
where
the
majority
of
residents
are
black.
Illinois
and
North
Carolina
are two
of the
few
areas
publishing
statistics
on
COVID-19
cases by
race,
and
their
data
shows a
disproportionate
number
of
African
Americans
were
infected.
“It
will be
unimaginable
pretty
soon,”
said Dr.
Celia J.
Maxwell,
an
infectious
disease
physician
and
associate
dean at
Howard
University
College
of
Medicine,
a school
and
hospital
in
Washington
dedicated
to the
education
and care
of the
black
community.
“And
anything
that
comes
around
is going
to be
worse in
our
patients.
Period.
Many of
our
patients
have so
many
problems,
but this
is kind
of like
the nail
in the
coffin.”
The
U.S.
Centers
for
Disease
Control
and
Prevention
tracks
virulent
outbreaks
and
typically
releases
detailed
data
that
includes
information
about
the age,
race and
location
of the
people
affected.
For the
coronavirus
pandemic,
the CDC
has
released
location
and age
data,
but it
has been
silent
on race.
The CDC
did not
respond
to
ProPublica’s
request
for race
data
related
to the
coronavirus
or
answer
questions
about
whether
they
were
collecting
it at
all.
Experts
say that
the
nation’s
unwillingness
to
publicly
track
the
virus by
race
could
obscure
a
crucial
underlying
reality:
It’s
quite
likely
that a
disproportionate
number
of those
who die
of
coronavirus
will be
black.
The
reasons
for this
are the
same
reasons
that
African
Americans
have
disproportionately
high
rates of
maternal
death,
low
levels
of
access
to
medical
care and
higher
rates of
asthma,
said Dr.
Camara
Jones, a
family
physician,
epidemiologist
and
visiting
fellow
at
Harvard
University.
“COVID
is just
unmasking
the deep
disinvestment
in our
communities,
the
historical
injustices
and the
impact
of
residential
segregation,”
said
Jones,
who
spent 13
years at
the CDC,
focused
on
identifying,
measuring
and
addressing
racial
bias
within
the
medical
system.
“This is
the time
to name
racism
as the
cause of
all of
those
things.
The
overrepresentation
of
people
of color
in
poverty
and
white
people
in
wealth
is not
just a
happenstance.
… It’s
because
we’re
not
valued.”
Five
congressional
Democrats
wrote to
Health
and
Human
Services
Secretary
Alex
Azar,
whose
department
encompasses
the CDC,
last
week
demanding
the
federal
government
collect
and
release
the
breakdown
of
coronavirus
cases by
race and
ethnicity.
Without
demographic
data,
the
members
of
Congress
wrote,
health
officials
and
lawmakers
won’t be
able to
address
inequities
in
health
outcomes
and
testing
that may
emerge:
“We urge
you not
to delay
collecting
this
vital
information,
and to
take any
additional
necessary
steps to
ensure
that all
Americans
have the
access
they
need to
COVID-19
testing
and
treatment.”
African
Americans
have
gravitated
to jobs
in
sectors
viewed
as
reliable
paths to
the
middle
class —
health
care,
transportation,
government,
food
supply —
which
are now
deemed
“essential,”
rendering
them
unable
to stay
home. In
places
like New
York
City,
the
virus’
epicenter,
black
people
are
among
the only
ones
still
riding
the
subway.
“And
let’s be
clear,
this is
not
because
people
want to
live in
those
conditions,”
said
Gordon
Francis
Goodwin,
who
works
for
Government
Alliance
on Race
and
Equity,
a
national
racial
equity
organization
that
worked
with
Milwaukee
on its
health
and
equity
framework.
“This is
a matter
of
taking a
look at
how our
history
kept
people
from
actually
being
fully
included.”
Linda
Sprague
Martinez,
a
community
health
researcher
at
Boston
University’s
School
of
Social
Work,
worries
that the
government
is not
paying
close
enough
attention
to race,
and as
the
disease
spreads,
will do
too
little
to blunt
its
toll.
“When
COVID-19
passes
and we
see the
losses …
it will
be
deeply
tied to
the
story of
post-World
War II
policies
that
left
communities
marginalized,”
Sprague
said.
“Its
impact
is going
to be
tied to
our
history
and
legacy
of
racial
inequities.
It’s
going to
be tied
to the
fact
that we
live in
two very
different
worlds.”
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