The Disproportional Impact of Covid on Black Americans

Statistics revealed African American and Latinx communities were disproportionately succumbing to the virus for various reasons. Some of those reasons include having employment that does not allow for remote work, not having access to the internet or resources for smart working, and finally having to work jobs that white Americans would prefer not to undertake in the middle of a pandemic. In an ironic twist, the very jobs which African Americans and Latinx workers undertook are the exact jobs that are keeping food on American tables, package delivery on time, and the American economy from tanking. Unfortunately, service sector jobs that, in most cases, require direct contact between workers and those they serve are exposing black and brown people directly to the virus.

Unequal access to healthcare coupled with disparities in care received poses another threat to black and brown populations in the United States. Unlike Italy, the United States does not have universal health care, and the high prices of hospital visits discourage uninsured Americans from approaching hospitals for care except in dire emergencies. Even when black and brown individuals do visit hospitals, the services they receive are too often unequal to those offered to white Americans. Black and brown populations are dying at record numbers while in the hospital with Covid-19. The reason for this is unknown, but many believe it is due to overt racism within the hospital system as well as misdiagnosing. In December 2020, Dr. Susan Moore’s video recounting her harrowing experience as a black patient at the Indiana University Health Clinic went viral. According to Dr. Moore, “I put forth, and I maintain, if I were white, I wouldn’t have to go through that,” explaining that her complaints of pain were met with suspicion and, ultimately, disregard (Hill). According to Dr. Uché Blackstock, a Yahoo News medical contributor and CEO of Advancing Health Equity, “it’s well documented that Black patients’ pain is undertreated...And I think that this is of course what happens in a society that devalues Black lives and Black bodies” (Hill).

Many African American men and women went to the hospital with Covid-19 symptoms but were sent home with diagnoses such as the flu, but ultimately within days, these individuals died of Covid-19 complications. “A 2016 study from the University of Virginia found that Black Americans are “systematically undertreated” for pain compared with white Americans and also found that half of a sample of white medical students and residents harbored false beliefs about Black Americans’ pain tolerance, such as the false notion that Black people have thicker skin than white people. The study found that the participants who held those beliefs made treatment recommendations that were less accurate than those who didn’t” (Hill).

The viral pandemic has revealed the racial disparities between those who are white and privileged and those who are not. In an op-ed published February 1st in the Washington Post, Blackstock and her sister, Dr. Oni Blackstock, noted that early data reveals that white Americans are being vaccinated at higher rates than Black Americans, despite the fact that Black Americans are dying at higher rates. Researchers have attributed the vaccine disparity to Black Americans’ skepticism toward medical institutions (Hill). The pandemic has been raging for almost a year and the numbers of infected black and brown men and women continue to be almost double those of the white population. We must ask ourselves more difficult questions when it comes to systematic racism: why are black and brown people living in the United States always negatively impacted in times of national distress? And how can the medical profession gain the trust of black and brown populations after years of abuse, exploitation, and lies?

Works Cited

Hill, Crystal. Black Physician's COVID-19 Death Highlights 'Horrific' History of MEDICAL Racism. 12 Feb. 2021, www.msn.com/en-us/health/wellness/black-physicians-covid-19-death-highlights-horrific-history-of-medical-racism/ar-BB1dByOL.