Black people, minorities could face greater risk for COVID-19

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Devastating numbers relating to COVID-19 deaths debunk the idea that black people somehow are less at risk.

Dr. Jerome Adams, the U.S. surgeon general, said on CBS This Morning that black people may actually be more at risk.

COVID-19 has left its mark in communities of all kinds. And the devastation continues as the death toll rises. In the early weeks of the pandemic, false information was circulated, implying that African Americans or black people were somehow immune to the virus or less likely to get it.

“That’s patently untrue. We know that there is community spread. And the communities that are most vulnerable are those who have essential jobs, that can’t work from home,” said Dr. Ashley Meagher of IU Health Methodist Hospital.

She’s not working on a COVID-19 unit but said racial disparities could play a role in how the virus moves in minority communities.

“Minorities or poor are at higher risk of all diseases or risk of worse outcomes from these diseases. And this has a lot to do with kind of some of the structural inequalities in our health care system,” said Meagher. “Lack of access to insurance, lack of access to primary care, the inability to take time off work.”

Former president of the American Public Health Association Dr. Camara Jones said much of the same in an interview with CNN.

“Black folks are getting infected more because they are exposed more. And once infected, they are dying more because their bodies, our bodies, have borne the burden of chronic disinvestment and active neglect in our community.”

In Indianapolis, the demographics of COVID-19 deaths haven’t been broken down. But in places like Illinois, Michigan and Louisiana, the numbers are out.

“All of the cities are showing nearly 70 percent of their mortality are in African American patients, when their populations are nowhere near that,” said Meagher.