About two weeks ago I had a high fever that produced chills and uncontrollable shaking and I had a sore throat. Immediately I researched safe/non-medical ways to reduce fever. Once the fever subsided, I began calling pharmacies and people I knew who were nurse practitioners and doctors in an attempt to determine if I may be infected with COVID-19. Each assured me that my symptoms didn’t match the norm for the virus – based on available information at that time. You can imagine how scary those few hours were for me. However, if I had needed to go to the hospital, the cost would have been of no concern. If I required expensive medication, cost would not have been a factor. I’m not rich. However, I am employed with excellent health insurance. That is not true for a significant number of African-Americans.
The stats are out and it is of no surprise that Blacks are faring worse than our White counterparts. You know the old saying, ‘If America gets a cold, Blacks get the flu’. We are witnessing this! According to CDC, 33% of persons who have been hospitalized are African-American, although we make up only 13% of the US population. Let’s examine contributing reasons: (data presented b NBC News – 4/12/2020)
- Urban Density. Of the top 10 counties with high number of COVID-19 cases, 10 are located in big cities with large African-American populations: New York, New Orleans, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Miami). As of this past Friday, April 10, 27% of COVID-19 cases in our country were in these cities.
- Socio-economics. In 2018 11.8% of US citizens lived in poverty. Of that number, 20.8% were Black! Closely associated with poverty is the lack of health insurance. According to Kaiser Family Foundation, 11% of African-American’s do not have health insurance.
- Underlying health issues. Blacks tend to have the types of health challenges that either trigger or are exasperated by the virus: asthma, diabetes, obesity, heart problems, etc.
All three of these reasons are legitimate and seem not to be connected to race on the surface. However, a closer look may reveal another story. The fact that Blacks have always been behind the 8-ball (so to speak) in the US will always factor into our current state of affairs. Consider this: Blacks live in larger cities because that’s where the post-slavery jobs were and the government provided ‘economical’ living quarters called ‘projects’ for persons with little/no wages. Public housing homes/apartments are often crowded together which can facilitate the easy spread of this virus. Additionally, while non-working persons may qualify for Medicaid, many Blacks fall into the category of the working poor – making too much money to receive government assistance and not enough money to sustain themselves or pay for health insurance. Finally, health challenges (pre-existing conditions) put us at risk. And, often because of low income, a lack of insurance, and a general distrust of the medical industry, we don’t seek and maintain the level of medical care to get and remain healthy.
My purpose for sharing this is simply to raise awareness and get us thinking about ways to change things around. Let’s start the conversation and move to action. We can begin by becoming and staying politically astute – particularly in terms of health care reform. If our current state of affairs isn’t working, then it’s time to advocate for something different.
What say you?