READ MORE: The New York Times publishes breathtaking front page as U.S. coronavirus deaths near 100,000
CNBC reports that the virus has hit African Americans particularly hard.
Using data from the Centers for Disease Control, they say 23% of coronavirus fatalities are African Americans, despite only being 13% of the total U.S. population.
What is known, according to The New York Times coronavirus map which measures statistics around the country and the world, is that cases are increasing in Southern states like Florida, Louisiana and North Carolina who have large African-American populations and either closed late, reopened early or both.
“Unfortunately, when you look at the predisposing conditions that lead to a bad outcome with coronavirus, the things that get people into ICUs that require incubation that often lead to death, they are just those very comorbidities,” infectious disease specialist Dr. Anthony Fauci said in April.
(Credit: Pew Research)
A study done at New Orleans’ Ochsner Health system published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that existing conditions can be a factor but also that many African Americans are working in service jobs that require them to have extended contact with others, a study also reflected in New York Times coverage of the hard-hit Black and Latino communities there.
