Democracy Now!
Coronavirus Racism: Why Black Communities Bear the Brunt Of COVID-19 Deaths
“Amid the intensification of the coronavirus pandemic, in the United States, early data is suggesting that Black and Latinx communities make up a disproportionate number of COVID-19 deaths. In Chicago alone, where Black people make up just 30% of the population, 70% of the city’s deaths were Black residents. In Louisiana, African Americans comprise 32% of the population, but 70% of the COVID-19-related deaths. Dr. Camara Phyllis Jones, a family physician, and epidemiologist say that COVID-19 exposes a two-fold manifestation of racism in the U.S., and Black communities are at particular risk due to greater “exposure” and “vulnerability” to the virus. “We are in more front-facing, low-income, underappreciated jobs, where we are part of the essential workforce that really isn’t getting its full attention, and certainly not getting the full protection that we need,” she says.
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