Why COVID-19 is hitting black Americans so hard

COVID-19 in infecting and killing black Americans at an alarming rate, data show.

A recent Associated Press analysis—one of the first attempts to examine the racial disparities of COVID-19 cases and deaths nationwide—found that, of nearly 3,300 of the 13,000 deaths so far, African Americans made up about 42% of the deceased. Black Americans account for about 21% of the total population in areas the AP analysis covered.

The researchers found that other minority groups’ cases and deaths remain fairly in line with their demographics, although they saw some hot spots among Hispanic individuals.

COVID-19 has had the biggest impact in several US cities, including New York City, Milwaukee, and New Orleans. Last week, Chicago’s public health agency reported that African Americans accounted for 72% of deaths from COVID-19 complications and 52% of positive tests for the coronavirus, despite their making up only 30% of the city’s population.

Tina Sacks, an assistant professor in the School of Social Welfare and faculty chair of the Center for Research on Social Change at the University of California, Berkeley, is an expert in racial disparities in health and health care; race, class, and gender; and the social safety net.

Before her arrival at Berkeley, she worked for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for nearly 10 years as special assistant to the CDC director during the first coronavirus outbreak—SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome).

Here she talks about the issue of race and COVID-19—and what the United States is doing to address it:

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