During a press briefing this week at the White House, Anthony Fauci — director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Disease — spoke out about growing concerns surrounding racial disparities in deaths from COVID-19. “We will get over coronavirus, but there will still be health disparities which we really do need to address in the African-American community,” he said.
He’s far from the first to express concern.
Over the past week, both individuals and organizations have publicly requested that states release the statistics that show which communities are being hit the hardest by COVID-19. New York Times journalist Charles M. Blow is one of them. In a call to action on his Instagram account — which received nearly 20,000 views — he encouraged leaders and citizens to “demand the release of race-specific COVID-19 data for New York City.” His request prompted a quick response, allowing him to post the racial demographics on Twitter shortly after.
In NYC, black people are disproportionately affected by #COVID19, but so are Hispanics. In NYS (excluding NYC), the percentage of blacks dying of the disease are twice their percentage of the population. pic.twitter.com/cIFMK1SMUt
— Charles M. Blow (@CharlesMBlow) April 8, 2020
Black communities in the U.S. are being disproportionately impacted.
Recently released data shows that African-Americans in some parts of the country are becoming infected and dying from COVID-19 at higher rates than their white counterparts. In Illinois, African-Americans make up 14.6 percent of the population, but 29.4 percent of confirmed cases and 41.2 percent of deaths as of April 6. Furthermore, Michigan’s population is 14 percent black, but African-Americans currently make up 34 percent of COVID-19 cases and 40 percent of deaths.
Additionally, on April 3, ProPublica reported that in Milwaukee County, Wisc., where the population is 26 percent black, African-Americans currently comprise “almost half of [the] county’s 941 cases and 81 percent of its 27 deaths.” Experts say the data coming out of these states is likely indicative of the disproportionate impact that COVID-19 is having on marginalized communities throughout the entire country.
Black communities are being disproportionately impacted.
Recently released data shows that African-Americans in some parts of the country are becoming infected and dying from COVID-19 at higher rates than their white counterparts. In Illinois, African-Americans make up 14.6 percent of the population, but 29.4 percent of confirmed cases and 41.2 percent of deaths as of April 6. Furthermore, Michigan’s population is 14 percent black, but African-Americans currently make up 34 percent of COVID-19 cases and 40 percent of deaths.
Additionally, on April 3, ProPublica reported that in Milwaukee County, Wisc., where the population is 26 percent black, African-Americans currently comprise “almost half of [the] county’s 941 cases and 81 percent of its 27 deaths.” Experts say the data coming out of these states is likely indicative of the disproportionate impact that COVID-19 is having on marginalized communities throughout the entire country.
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