Unmasking Inequality: How COVID-19 Exacerbates Health Disparities for Black Americans

COVID-19 Health Outcomes for Black Americans

Black Americans are dying of COVID-19
 at three times the rate of 
non-Hispanic White Americans(1).

CHECK IT -- As of June 25, the COVID-related hospitalization rate for African Americans was five times higher than the rate for non-Hispanic white persons (2). By late May, more than 20,000 African Americans – an estimated one in 2,000 of the entire black population in the US – had died from the disease(3). As we learn more about the COVID pandemic, several factors are consistent as indicators of COVID deaths. Underlying health conditions, particularly cardiovascular and respiratory, are primary indicators for hospitalization, intubation and death. Many of these chronic conditions have their roots in environmental factors, and begin in childhood.

Race is the number one indicator for the placement of toxic facilities in the US(4). 

CHECK IT -- Outstripping even socioeconomic factors, race is the single most significant indicator for toxic facility placement in the US, from coal-fired power plants to incinerators, all of which “emit mercury, arsenic, lead, and other contaminants into the water, food, and lungs of communities,” leading to higher levels of cancer, chronic respiratory illnesses, and stress-levels. It is impossible to remove the thread of environmental impact from that of health outcomes(5).

African Americans are almost three times more likely to die from asthma-related causes than non-Hispanic White Americans(6).

CHECK IT --  In addition to higher rates of chronic illness and underlying conditions, Black Americans are at significant risk for infectious illness, in part due to the population’s lower rates of health insurance coverage(7), and a higher chance of living in a multi-generational household(8).

Black Americans remained 1.5 times more likely to be uninsured than White Americans from 2010 to 2018(9).

CHECK IT -- In addition to their lower rates of insurance coverage, Black Americans experience an overall lower quality of care at American hospitals(10). 
Overall, it is impossible to separate the higher rates of COVID-19 among the US’s Black population from the sub-par health outcomes they face across the board which are driven by the inequalities of access and quality of care that they receive from the American healthcare industry. 

African-American women are three times more likely to die of pregnancy-related causes than white women, and the African-American infant mortality rate is twice the rate for white infants(11).

Racial and ethnic minorities receive lower-quality health care than white people — even when insurance status, income, age, and severity of conditions are comparable(12).

CHECK IT -- So many of the protests across the US have been centered around systemic failures, and the failure of healthcare in the Black community is no less pervasive and entrenched. The good news, however, is solutions in the healthcare industry can have equally far-reaching effects.

A recent study randomly assigned 1,300 African-Americans to Black or non-Black primary care physicians. Those who saw Black doctors received 34 percent more preventive services(13).

Under Medicaid expansion, Black Americans saw a 9% drop in uninsured population numbers, though the insured population remains low compared to non-Hispanic White populations(14).

CHECK IT -- The SDGs identify what is needed to push the global community forward. They specify those aims which would make us healthier, safer, more well. It is easy, given these individual goals, to think of each SDG as a siloed challenge. Yet, each goal is interrelated and inextricably linked. Examining connections between systems allows us to consider, not just the daunting task of addressing systemic inequalities and their myriad repercussions, but also the force multiplier of singular actions. 
CHECK IT -- Work to achieve a more just and equitable world requires a close examination of how many of our existing global systems are built upon the unequal frameworks of seemingly unrelated sectors. Dismantling these harmful systems and frameworks and replacing them with more just and equitable alternatives requires not just action but coaction in pursuit of a world with fewer barriers to health, safety and security for all.