Report: COVID-19 is twice as likely to kill Black Americans as whites
PHI I LA DELPHI A— Black individuals are nearly three times as likely to contract COVID-19 and twice as likely to die from the virus, compared to white individuals, according to a new report by the National Urban League.
Researchers have struggled to measure with precision the race gaps in COVID- 1 9 because much of t he early data reported by hospitals did not include information about patients' race — as of early August, Pennsylvania has reported race data for about half of its cases.
But the National Urban League's State of Black America report adds to a growing body of research that has found the virus is disproportionately affecting Black and Latino
communities — a trend that is largely reflective of deeper health, economic and social inequality.
In an introduction to the report, National Urban League CEO Marc H. Morial called racism “the pandemic within the
pandemic.”
“The American people are seeing — many for the first time — the stark and deadly results of racism on an enormous scale,” Morial wrote, referring to the intersection of the pandemic and widespread demonstrations against police brutality following the death of George Floyd.
Using data from Johns Hopkins University, the National Urban League report found that:
• Black individuals were almost three times as likely to become infected with C OVID -19 compared to white individuals and twice as likely to die of the virus. One in 1,450 Black patients died of the coronavirus, compared to 1 in 3,350 white patients.
• Infection rates were even higher among Latino individuals, who are more than three times as likely to get sick, compared to white individuals. The C OVID -19 death rate among Latino individuals was slightly higher than white patients.
•Black and Latino patients were more than four times as likely to be hospitalized for the virus, compared to white patients.
Much of the report' s national findings are in line with how the pandemic has played out in Philadelphia, where Black individuals are more than twice as likely as white individuals to contract the virus, according to data from the Philadelphia Department of Public Health.
Black Philadelphians die of the virus at a rate of 12.9 per 100,000 residents, compared to a rate of 8.7 per 100,000 residents. Race data were available for 93% of the city's coronavirus deaths.
Infection rates may be higher among Black and Latino individuals because they are more likely to live in crowded households and to hold essential worker jobs that make social distancing guidelines difficult or impossible. About 30% of white individuals have been able to work from home, compared to about 20% of Black workers and 16% of Latino workers, according to the National Urban League report.
When they do become infected, Black and Latino patients may experience more severe cases requiring hospitalization because they have higher rates of underlying health conditions and are less likely to be uninsured, which can lead people to delay seeking care until they are sicker, according to the report.
The report' s authors cautioned that, without action, racial gaps in health care could deepen, and urged public health agencies to use new findings about the pandemic's affect on communities of color to bring about change.