Why is Corona impacting African-Americans so harshly?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1) Because health care is poorer in black neighborhoods.
2) Because black Americans tend to be in poorer health overall (due to institutional racism, higher rates of poverty, etc)
3) Because black Americans probably tend to work the kinds of jobs deemed essential (low income work at grocery stores, delivery services, food services, janitorial work, public sector utilities, etc) and are therefore more likely to be exposed right now.

Just for starts.

Yes. Look at the videos from NYC, the minorities are still using public transportation, stuffed as sardines, to go to work - no option to telework. Also, AAs have the highest asthma and asthma death rates, so add a killer virus to this statistic.

Everyone uses it there.

[Anonymous]

Charles Blow, one of the best nyt columnists

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Personal responsibility is critical for people of every race. I've mentioned before how astounding it is that Americans in general seem to have very poor hygiene habits, mostly notoriously men who don't wash their hands after using the bathroom.

Racism my friend. Racism.

[Anonymous]

Everyone should wash their hands throughly after using the bathroom. Every. Single. Time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Personal responsibility is critical for people of every race. I've mentioned before how astounding it is that Americans in general seem to have very poor hygiene habits, mostly notoriously men who don't wash their hands after using the bathroom.

Racism my friend. Racism.

No, but nice try my friend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not affecting AAs disproportionately. It's affecting unhealthy people in general.

False.

Michigan. Hooray.

So can you also explain why Italy, China, and Spain also have high death rates and....those countries lack black people?

Come on. In the places where there are black people, they are being affected disproportionally. No one said only black people are infected.

Blacks in Michigan doesn’t equate to all blacks in the USA.

Besides, this isn’t a race problem. It’s more so a class issue. There are also many lower class whites who are dying because they live in trailers and can’t afford healthcare. Not to mention, there are more poor white people on food stamps than any other race.

[Anonymous]

Not all, but nearly every picture in news reports featuring a deceased person- they have been obese. AAs have a higher incidence of obesity and other heath problems mentioned already. But even in those not obese, hypertension stills runs high in AAs and is often harder to control with medication

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Personal responsibility is critical for people of every race. I've mentioned before how astounding it is that Americans in general seem to have very poor hygiene habits, mostly notoriously men who don't wash their hands after using the bathroom.

Racism my friend. Racism.

No, but nice try my friend.

Please read and study US History.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Personal responsibility is critical for people of every race. I've mentioned before how astounding it is that Americans in general seem to have very poor hygiene habits, mostly notoriously men who don't wash their hands after using the bathroom.

Racism my friend. Racism.

No, but nice try my friend.

Please read and study US History.

Again:
Personal responsibility is critical for people of every race. Period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not affecting AAs disproportionately. It's affecting unhealthy people in general.

This! It has nothing to do with your race and everything to do with your health. And I might add nothing to do with poverty. At least not in this country. You can easily consume the same amount dollar wise eating healthy. I don’t have money and I eat fruits and vegetables and chix breast that I buy at Walmart that cost probably $3 a meal vs McDonald’s which is probably $7. I bet if I spent a week with a low income family and went shopping with them, taught them easy healthy cheap meals, they’d end up spending less than they normally do!

You are assuming many things. One, that they have access to a kitchen. Two, they have access to cooking utensils. Three, they have access to a grocery store, a place to store what they buy and a way to get the food home from the grocery store. Four, that they have the time to cook a nutritious dinner.

Eating at McDonald’s may be more expensive than what you cook at home, but it may be all that is available to them.

I didn’t know we were referring to the homeless. But then again homeless people really can’t afford McDonald’s either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not affecting AAs disproportionately. It's affecting unhealthy people in general.

This! It has nothing to do with your race and everything to do with your health. And I might add nothing to do with poverty. At least not in this country. You can easily consume the same amount dollar wise eating healthy. I don’t have money and I eat fruits and vegetables and chix breast that I buy at Walmart that cost probably $3 a meal vs McDonald’s which is probably $7. I bet if I spent a week with a low income family and went shopping with them, taught them easy healthy cheap meals, they’d end up spending less than they normally do!

You are assuming many things. One, that they have access to a kitchen. Two, they have access to cooking utensils. Three, they have access to a grocery store, a place to store what they buy and a way to get the food home from the grocery store. Four, that they have the time to cook a nutritious dinner.

Eating at McDonald’s may be more expensive than what you cook at home, but it may be all that is available to them.

I didn’t know we were referring to the homeless. But then again homeless people really can’t afford McDonald’s either.

That confused me too. I was going to say why can’t black people have access to cooking or a kitchen.

It’s a class thing though. Not necessarily a race issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not affecting AAs disproportionately. It's affecting unhealthy people in general.

This! It has nothing to do with your race and everything to do with your health. And I might add nothing to do with poverty. At least not in this country. You can easily consume the same amount dollar wise eating healthy. I don’t have money and I eat fruits and vegetables and chix breast that I buy at Walmart that cost probably $3 a meal vs McDonald’s which is probably $7. I bet if I spent a week with a low income family and went shopping with them, taught them easy healthy cheap meals, they’d end up spending less than they normally do!

You are assuming many things. One, that they have access to a kitchen. Two, they have access to cooking utensils. Three, they have access to a grocery store, a place to store what they buy and a way to get the food home from the grocery store. Four, that they have the time to cook a nutritious dinner.

Eating at McDonald’s may be more expensive than what you cook at home, but it may be all that is available to them.

I didn’t know we were referring to the homeless. But then again homeless people really can’t afford McDonald’s either.

PP is not referring to the homeless.
Food deserts - heard of them? It’s notoriously hard to get access to basic fresh groceries and staples as you describe in many urban and low-income neighborhoods.
Much less getting to a Walmart or Aldi and back home with all your groceries if you don’t have a car.
Also, having a place to live may not provide you with a well-stocked kitchen. A SRO, maybe you have a hot plate - or maybe you have a landlord who says fixing the broken stove is your problem, and you don’t have $300 extra.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not all, but nearly every picture in news reports featuring a deceased person- they have been obese. AAs have a higher incidence of obesity and other heath problems mentioned already. But even in those not obese, hypertension stills runs high in AAs and is often harder to control with medication

This! Please find me a healthy young person who has died from this. Newspapers can’t say so & so was obese and died from clovid but the pictures say it all . . . More poor people are obese. More poor people can’t telework. It’s a bad combination.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not affecting AAs disproportionately. It's affecting unhealthy people in general.

This! It has nothing to do with your race and everything to do with your health. And I might add nothing to do with poverty. At least not in this country. You can easily consume the same amount dollar wise eating healthy. I don’t have money and I eat fruits and vegetables and chix breast that I buy at Walmart that cost probably $3 a meal vs McDonald’s which is probably $7. I bet if I spent a week with a low income family and went shopping with them, taught them easy healthy cheap meals, they’d end up spending less than they normally do!

You are assuming many things. One, that they have access to a kitchen. Two, they have access to cooking utensils. Three, they have access to a grocery store, a place to store what they buy and a way to get the food home from the grocery store. Four, that they have the time to cook a nutritious dinner.

Eating at McDonald’s may be more expensive than what you cook at home, but it may be all that is available to them.

I didn’t know we were referring to the homeless. But then again homeless people really can’t afford McDonald’s either.

That confused me too. I was going to say why can’t black people have access to cooking or a kitchen.

It’s a class thing though. Not necessarily a race issue.

This. Tons of white people are poor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First of all, we need to get out of this mindset from months ago that the virus affects jetsetters and airports. It's EVERYWHERE now in all communities.

As to your question, inner city poverty like in New Orleans and Detroit has a lot of risk factors--lots of people in poor health--diabetes, heart disease, obesity. Not to mention Detroit has an older population than the average in the US because younger people have fled because of the poor economic outlook. And, the hospitals these populations use are often poorly funded public hospitals that have been subject to cuts and are serving a huge population because other hospitals in the area have closed.

Finally, people may not be able to effectively socially distance in poor urban areas. Many people have larger numbers of people in a home (relatives, friends, etc.), plus they are more likely to use shared facilities like laundry, etc. Not to mention that people have to go out more to get groceries because they have less money to stock up and don't have cars to haul bulk items so they are limited by what they can carry. Not having cars also means they often have to take public buses to get to the grocery store, medical appointments, work, etc.

And speaking of work, a lot of low-income people work in low-paid essential jobs that see exposure--not just grocery store clerks and gas station attendants but also things in the healthcare system with high risk like home health aide, nursing aide, hospital orderly, hospital laundry staff, etc...and if doctors aren't getting masks, hospital orderlies sure as hell are not.

This is the most complete, thoughtful and accurate answer right here ^^

I am an ICU nurse working with COVID patients right now. My patients — the first "wave" in the DMV — meet at least one criterion listed above. [I read their charts and talk to their family so I do know if they, for example, live with 7 people or take the bus to work].

I would just add that the well-thought-out post above applies to people of all races/ethnicities, not just blacks. So while this population in Detroit might be black, as OP indicates, this situation will play out differently in El Paso with Hispanic whites, etc.