How COVID-19 Has Adversely Impacted Communities of Color
In late November of 2019, physicians in Wuhan, Hubei province China began to notice that a large number of patients were presenting with viral pneumonia. Scientists determined that viral pneumonia was being caused by a coronavirus, the same type of virus that caused the SARS pandemic in the early 2000’s. The World Health Organization (WHO) subsequently gave it the name SARS CoV-2, which causes a disease called COVID-19. It is currently in almost every country on earth and is present on all continents with the exception of Antarctica.
In the early stages of pandemic, there was a belief that it was a disease that for the most part did not affect children and young adults. As the pandemic has progressed, it has become clear that is not the case. The WHO has now issued a warning, “What we are seeing in some countries is that there are individuals in their 30s, who are in their 40s and 50s who are in the ICU and who have died,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, head of WHO’s emerging diseases.
Some of these younger patients being admitted to the ICU also have no underlying health conditions. Statistics in Italy state that 10–15 percent of patients in the ICU are under the age 50. Within Korea, of all the deaths attributed to COVID-19, 15% of them have been under the age of 60.
What is concerning is that a large number of young people appear to believe the myth that they will be fine if they get COVID-19, as demonstrated by the spring break partiers in Dallas Texas, who flaunted social distancing rules. Later, 28 of them would test positive for the virus.
Early incorrect theories that black people were less susceptible prove deadly
In the beginning of the Coronavirus outbreak in the United States, there were many memes circulating on social media sites stating that black people couldn’t get Coronavirus. Not only was this incorrect, but black and Hispanic Americans would end up taking the brunt of the pandemic in America. As the Coronavirus pandemic began to take hold in the United States, there were anecdotal reports that black and Hispanic Americans were being disproportionately affected. It was not until the beginning of April that five states began to report COVID-19 infection, hospitalization and death rates by racial group. Currently 29 states are providing race-based data on their COVID-19 statistics.
As the data began to emerge, it became clear just how bad the health disparities are. In New York City, Hispanics, who make up 29 percent of the population, make up 34 percent of the known deaths. Black New Yorkers, who comprise 9 percent of the population, make up 17 percent of deaths. New York has a better public health system and social support than many other states, possibly preventing the disparities from being worse. Louisiana — a state with less social safety and public health than New York — is one of the worst states for racial disparities; 32 percent of the population is black, yet over 70 percent of the people who have died are black.
The problem with the media
One of the issues seen during this pandemic is that the media is not covering COVID-19 through the lens of minorities in America. They are not talking about the higher rates of infection and death or how inequalities are making this pandemic worse for minorities. Some members of the media, such as The Atlantic and their article by Ibram X. Kendi, have begun to cover it. Still, many members of the minority communities have felt left out of the conversation. Sean Combs has recognized this and through his Revolt platform has begun to discuss these issues.
To address the lack of coverage for black Americans, Sean Combs (P. Diddy) held a two hour long show on his media network Revolt. He had Angela Rye, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rev. Al Sharpton and Van Jones on to discuss the issues of why this is disproportionately affecting the black community. They also discussed how presently with cities like New York and San Francisco taking a heavy toll there is a lot of political and media attention. However, once it moves from those areas to the Southern United States, which are majority black, the attention will stop. As Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said “It’s not just do black lives matter, but why do they matter to you, because for a lot of people they cannot cross that bridge that she’s (Angela Rye) talking about. We shouldn’t care about black families and communities because they are the ones that deliver groceries and stock our shelves. We should care about each other because of the fundamental human value of life, we have to see each other as brother and sister.”
What is driving these differences
There are many unique reasons that are causing the higher effects on black and Hispanic communities. They have traditionally been disenfranchised economically, where white households have 6.5 times more wealth than black households. Black Americans have a higher level of comorbidities — such as asthma, diabetes, obesity and heart disease — that are associated with worse outcomes. Many of these comorbidities are due to the income inequality that black Americans experience. Not having the money for medication, doctor visits and healthy food increases the risks of developing one of the previously mentioned comorbidities. This only explains why African Americans are succumbing to the disease at a higher rate, not why they are contracting the disease in the first place.
“The corona virus pandemic did not start the health disparities, it put a light on the health disparities. It’s like whatever room you are in that was in the dark and somebody comes in and cuts the light switch on, the corona virus put the light on what was already there, we in the black community were always number one in all of the health disparities that made us the candidates for getting the corona virus” — Rev. Al Sharpton
Why are African Americans more likely to contract COVID-19
There are many reasons that African Americans are more likely to contract COVID-19. Many are to do with inequalities that governments have ignored. The Economic Policy Institute determined that less than 1 in 5 African Americans are able to work from home. This means that many of them need to go into work where they are much more likely to be exposed to the virus. Another challenge they face is that they have the lowest level of car ownership of all racial groups in the United States with roughly 20 percent of households not having access to a car, compared to 6.5 percent of white households. So not only do they have to go into work, they have to take public transit as well to do so. Social distancing is nearly impossible on a cramped, enclosed bus or subway.
Many black and Hispanic Americans are also performing the essential jobs that are keeping our country functioning during these difficult times. As Camara Jones, an epidemiologist put it “we are just more exposed, but we aren’t recognized to be a part of the essential workforce”. Employees of grocery stores, cab drivers, delivery drivers and those working in Amazon fulfillment centers tend to be minorities. Many of employers have been slow to implement policies to protect their workers. Chris Smalls had worked at an Amazon fulfillment center in New York for over five years. He organized a small walkout to protest the lack of protection and was promptly fired. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has also been struck very hard, with 83 deaths thus far. These employees don’t have the option of not engaging with the public, so it’s critical that companies and governments do everything they can to protect these workers.
When this crisis started, the government was extremely slow to roll out testing. However, many wealthy Americans just paid for private testing. This lack of testing possibly allowed COVID-19 to circulate more widely in the African American community than first thought.
Other challenges are a lack of sick days that African Americans can take; 7.3 million African Americans work without paid sick days, which comprises 40 percent of African American workers. Living conditions also pose a challenge, as with greater economic inequality, many African American families live with multiple generations under one roof. They also tend to live in more crowded settings. These two factors can make social distancing and self-isolation extremely challenging, especially if members of the household are still going to work every day.
One factor that cannot be ignored is the fear of racial profiling. America has a long history of racial profiling targeting African Americans. As the CDC has started to recommend wearing masks in public, many African Americans have been worried about being profiled. There was a video posted of two African Americans at a Walmart who were forced to leave by an armed security guard for refusing to remove their masks.
This crisis was unfortunately predictable and follows a history of disenfranchisement for African Americans. Hopefully, this will bring a call to action to governments to help look at the health and economic disparities that exist and work to rectify them.
