- The Trump administration is seeking to reopen the economy next month. But doing so too early without tempering the spread of coronavirus infections could put communities of color at greater risk.
- Early data show the virus is infecting and killing black Americans at higher rates in several states like Illinois, Michigan, and Louisiana.
- Dr. Diana Hernandez of Columbia University says black Americans tend to live with health conditions like diabetes and heart disease that make the virus harder to treat.
- Hernandez also believes that a balance will have to be struck in the coming weeks on rolling back economic restrictions.
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The coronavirus pandemic led federal officials to effectively shut down substantial swaths of the American economy, throwing it into a near-certain recession. The Trump administration is now seeking to reopen much of the economy next month.
Early data from the pandemic shows the virus is infecting and killing black people at higher rates. And in some places like New York City, the coronavirus is also killing Latinos in disproportionately higher numbers.
Any drive to reopen the economy before the rate of infections are kept at manageable levels could put those communities at greater risk.
Black Americans belong to a share of the workforce that often can't work from home and have fewer protections like paid leave. Nearly 40% of black workers are unable to use any sick days, according to the National Partnership for Women and Families.
An initial survey from Rubix Life Sciences, a biotech data firm, also suggested doctors were less likely to refer black people for coronavirus testing even when they displayed signs of infection.
While the fatality statistics are preliminary, experts say they reflect deep-rooted inequalities in healthcare access that worsened the outbreak among black people in particular.
Dr. Diana Hernandez, a professor at Columbia University who researches the intersection of healthcare and race, told Business Insider that communities "challenged by socioeconomic and environmental disparities" are experiencing higher death rates for people of color.
Her assessment was recently echoed by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio at a recent press conference. Blacks and Latinos in the city have died at double the rate compared to white people, municipal data shows.
"There are clear inequalities, clear disparities in how this disease is affecting the people of our city," de Blasio said on Wednesday. "The truth is that in so many ways the negative effects of coronavirus - the pain it's causing, the death it's causing - tracks with other profound health care disparities that we have seen for years and decades."
The data has been alarming. In Chicago, black Americans accounted for half of the people who tested positive and 72% of recorded virus deaths, though they make up around 32% of the city.
The trend held in other states that released racial health data. Black Americans in Michigan make up 14% of the population there, though they constituted a third of positive tests and 40% of deaths in the state. Louisiana similarly had a disproportionate share of its black population become infected and die from the virus.
Hernandez said that black people are more likely to have existing health conditions like diabetes, hypertension, and high blood pressure. Those that do have those conditions tend to fare worse with severe cases.
Public health experts say that reopening the economy too soon without a mass testing program in place could be calamitous, as social distancing measures have not been given enough time to work. The 1918 flu pandemic offers some lessons to draw from.
A 2007 study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control analyzed the efforts of several cities to contain the outbreak. Those that rolled back restrictions saw a surge of cases that overwhelmed hospitals and led to more deaths as a result.
Hernandez said a balance would have to be struck in the coming weeks on reopening a collapsing economy.
"We don't want to do it prematurely. But on the other hand, given the types of jobs lower-income folks have which require them to be present, it requires an economy that's going," she said. "It's a fine balance between avoiding public health risks and acknowledging their need to work to feed themselves and house themselves."
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