Nationwide, blacks make up 13% of the population and account for 23% of the deaths. According to the COVID Tracking Project, through today 25,932 black lives have been lost to COVID-19. The project says “black people are dying at a rate more than 1.5 times higher than their population share.”
In Connecticut blacks make up 10% of the population, but account 15% of the deaths.
Why might that be?
Here are some reasons:
Blacks could more genetically susceptible to COVID-19.
Or, more likely it could be because black people in America are more likely to live in poverty, in more crowded living quarters, have higher risk of hypertension and diabetes, have poorer diets, less access to health care, and be less likely to have jobs that allow them to work from home and mitigate their risk of contact with carriers.
Certainly the reasons for the above have a lot to do with American history, politics, and long-standing discrimination and disadvantage.
We have lived too long as two Americas.
As we battle COVID-19, both the disease and the economic consequences, we should strive to leave no one behind, and work to see that all Americans have equal access to health care, educational and economic opportunity, and to the hopes and aspirations of a better life. One America.
Peace to all.
