Understanding Why Black America is More Prone to the Long-term Impacts of a Global Pandemic
Early rumors of the rapidly-evolving coronavirus suggested a few things: that those traveling from China and Europe were most at risk, that COVID-19 could be the great equalizer among us (think the survival of the fittest), and the false notion that those with melanin were immune to the virus.
We now know that with more than 1.9 million people infected, this global pandemic has disrupted societal, economic, and educational norms while making clear the country’s systematic inequalities that exist in our health system and beyond.
As we all keep an eye on the outbreak curve and how to flatten it, one thing is becoming clear — African Americans are dying at a disproportionate rate from the coronavirus in comparison to their counterparts, pushing us to take a deeper look at the impact COVID-19 will have on our long-term well-being.
Why Us? African Americans Among the Most Vulnerable
The reasoning for this disparity goes beyond a lack of medical supplies or testing resources and is a civil rights issue at is core meeting at the intersection of long-standing, structural environmental, economic, and political inequities.
Many of us have been advised by stay-in-place orders to self-quarantine at home while others, many of which are African American, represent a portion of the workforce that does not have the luxury to do so. African Americans are overrepresented in some of the lowest-paid, high-contact essential services and are at least a third of nursing assistants, orderlies, and psychiatric aides, McKinsey reports, thus elevating their risk of contracting the virus while providing essential services, particularly in healthcare.
This, coupled with other historical injustices such as redlining and segregation, make this community particularly vulnerable and at risk of chronic conditions that leave lungs and immune systems weak like asthma, hypertension, or diabetes. Additionally, African Americans are more likely to face challenges such as racial bias when seeking care and limited access to healthy, affordable food.
The McKinsey report also found that seven million, or 39% of jobs held by Black workers are now vulnerable to reductions in hours or pay, temporary furloughs, or permanent layoffs.
“These communities, structurally, they’re breeding grounds for the transmission of the disease,” said Dr. Sharrelle Barber, an assistant research professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at Drexel University to the New York Times. “It’s not biological. It’s really these existing structural inequalities that are going to shape the racial inequalities in this pandemic.”
More Data, Please
More transparent, readily available data is the key to better understand and combat this harsh reality.
Even with limited information, McKinsey found that Black Americans are up to 1.8 times as likely to live in counties which, if contagion hits, have the highest risk of severe public-health and economic disruption from the pandemic. The counties in the highest-risk decile are home to only 10% of the U.S. population but 18% of the black population.
Preliminary data released by states earlier this month pointed to the alarming disparities. In Charlotte, N.C., for example, Black residents make up about 22 percent of the state’s population but account for 39 percent of its positive coronavirus cases. In other cities like Detroit, M.I. African Americans account for 35% of confirmed cases in the state and 40% of deaths from COVID-19. In Louisiana, about 70 percent of the people who have died are Black, though only a third of that state’s population is African American and in Philadelphia, P.A. 46% of the confirmed coronavirus patients in the city are African American.
Since then, at least 29 states have released the racial demographics of confirmed coronavirus cases, death rates, or both, according to the COVID Racial Data Tracker. (This is a tracker being developed to track, analyze, and regularly update racial data on the pandemic within the United States, as reported by The Atlantic)
With the collaboration of public and private sector stakeholders and disclosure of racial data, this information can be better tracked and leveraged to ensure Black communities are receiving the care and resources that they disproportionately lack.
COVID-19 will have lasting implications on how we preserve the quality of Black life. From the viability of our educational institutions (HBCUs) to the growth of home and business ownership, how we manage the pandemic in the present will determine our future.
