The COVID-19 Pandemic Shows Why We Must —And How We Can—End Racial Injustice in Health

George Floyd’s violent and senseless death has justly sparked a national outpouring of outrage. Multiracial waves of protesters have called for an end to racism and racial injustice, particularly for Black Americans. Within the context of a grim pandemic, Floyd’s untimely death also magnifies the urgency to address another critical dimension of racial injustice: health inequity in America. It’s long past time to end the disproportionate, unjust and unnatural impact of disease on black Americans and other people of color. Diseases—like COVID-19—do not discriminate. Yet they spread more rapidly among those discriminated against. Preliminary data suggest that predominantly Black counties have three times the rate of COVID-19 infections and six times the rate of death than predominantly white counties. Higher rates of conditions such as heart disease, cancer, obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure in communities of color increase their risk for COVID-19 particularly, and overall decrease life expectancy for black men by more than four years compared to whites. Drivers of health inequity have been amply documented for decades. A constellation of socioeconomic disadvantage—in jobs, housing, and education, for example—weakens community resilience to so many causes of human suffering (including pandemics and violence). Many hospitals and health settings are viewed as inhospitable by people of diverse races and cultures, with even well-int...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 Source Type: news