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The Coronavirus Pandemic Is Amplifying America’s Racism
There’s a pandemic within a pandemic
The coronavirus pandemic continues to expose and amplify the racism ingrained into American life and the U.S. health care system. “Black people are being forced to swallow the twin sorrows of a deadly pandemic and our own murders being made public spectacle,” writes Tirhakah Love for LEVEL.
As Erika Stallings reports for Elemental, it’s become clear that the burden of Covid-19 infections is not felt equally. She reports:
According to CDC data on Covid-19 hospitalization during the month of March, 33% of hospitalized patients were black despite only being 18% of the surveyed population. And a recent preprint study from Yale School of Medicine found that blacks had a 3.57 times higher risk of dying from Covid-19 than whites. For Latinos, the risk was 1.88 times higher.
There are a variety of reasons why racial inequities lead to higher Covid-19 morbidity. “Medical and public health professionals around the country say misinformation about the disease in Black communities, together with the long-standing economic, environmental, and health inequities that affect them, are to blame for the trend,” writes Drew Costley for Elemental. He reports
It is also well documented that Black and Latinx…
