FAUCI: VIRUS DOUBLY TAXING FOR MINORITIES
Infectious disease expert says COVID-19 risk is higher for Black, Latino people
Studies show Black and Latino people face increased risks of getting the coronavirus and becoming severely ill, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Friday.
The nation’s top infectious disease expert said infections are happening at a higher rate among those minority populations, in part because of occupations and living conditions that lend themselves to more person-to-person contact.
Some health conditions found at higher rates among Black and Latino people — heart and lung diseases, obesity, diabetes and hypertension, to name a few — also make them more susceptible to getting seriously sick from COVID-19, he said.
“It’s really what I would refer to (with) the common colloquial language of a ‘double whammy’ against Black and brown people,” he said.
Fauci made the remarks during a web-based event for Virginians focused on how the virus is disproportionately affecting people of color. The meeting, part of the “Facts & Faith Fridays” weekly series, was cosponsored by the governor’s office, the Virginia Department of Health, the Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center and faith leaders. The events are held with African American clergy to address the disparate impact the pandemic has had on the Black community.
Gov. Ralph Northam, who provided remarks highlighting the importance of the vaccine, showed he has a cloth mask featuring mini Fauci faces. Fauci has been the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984. He will be chief medical adviser for president-elect Joe Biden.
“As a doctor myself, I have been so grateful to Dr. Fauci for his steady, science-based, factual leadership during this pandemic,” Northam said.
Public health officials do not have complete race and ethnicity data for confirmed COVID-19 cases statewide. But of the information provided to the Virginia Department of Health, about 45% of infections have been among Black and Latino people. Between those communities of color, the distribution of cases is almost equal.
The disproportionate impact on these minority groups is striking, especially among Latinos, who make up just 10% of Virginia’s population. Public health officials say it’s important to understand there is no evidence migration or travel from Central or South America played a role in bringing COVID-19 into the United States.
Statewide data also reflect the increased risk of severe illness for Black and Latino people. About 24% of Virginians who have died were Black, according to the health department. And about 28% and 21% of the patients who required hospitalizations have been Black and Latino, respectively.
Fauci addressed the “understandable skepticism” of some Black people about the vaccine because of unethical practices in the past. During the Tuskegee Study, beginning in 1932, federal health officials injected syphilis in several hundred Black men without their informed consent. The study went on for 40 years.
“History tells us, they have not always been treated fairly and ethically by the federal government, in their medical approaches,” Fauci said. “That’s the past — a shameful past that we have to live with — but there are now safeguards in place that will never let that happen again.”
Fauci estimated between 70% and 85% of the population must get the vaccine in order to achieve “herd immunity,” meaning enough people are protected that the virus can’t easily spread.
In Virginia, that would require up to 7.2 million people getting the shots.
So far only health care workers, emergency medical technicians and longterm care residents and staff are eligible to receive the vaccine in the state.
Much of Virginia’s vaccine data is missing race and ethnicity information. But of the shots for which that date is available, roughly one-third of doses have gone into the arms of non-white Virginians.