How The Coronavirus Is Disproportionately Impacting Black Americans

Published April 9, 2020 at 9:00 AM CDT

A subway customer uses a tissue to protect her hand while holding onto a pole as COVID-19 concerns drive down ridership, Thursday, March 19, 2020, in New York. (John Minchillo/AP Photo)

The coronavirus pandemic is hitting some communities much harder than others. We’ll take a look at the disproportionate toll it’s taking on African Americans.

Guests

Kat Stafford, national race and ethnicity reporter for The Associated Press. ( @kat_stafford)

Nikole Hannah-Jones, investigative reporter covering racial injustice for The New York Times Magazine. Creator of the 1619 project. Co-founder of the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting, an organization dedicated to increasing the ranks of investigative reporters of color. ( @nhannahjones)

Utibe Essien, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. ( @UREssien)

From The Reading List

The New York Times: “ Black Americans Face Alarming Rates of Coronavirus Infection in Some States” — “The coronavirus is infecting and killing black people in the United States at disproportionately high rates, according to data released by several states and big cities, highlighting what public health researchers say are entrenched inequalities in resources, health and access to care.”

The Associated Press: “ Water shutoffs in sharp focus amid coronavirus outbreak” — “The advice is simple and universal: Washing your hands with soap and water is one of the most effective ways to stop the spread of the coronavirus. But for millions of people across the country, that’s not simple at all: They lack running water in their houses due to service shutoffs prompted by overdue bills.”

WBEZ: “ In Chicago, 70% of COVID-19 Deaths Are Black” — “The COVID-19 virus is killing black residents in Cook County at disproportionately high rates, according to early data analyzed by WBEZ. While black residents make up only 23% of the population in the county, they account for 58% of the COVID-19 deaths. And half of the deceased lived in Chicago, according to data from the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.”

The New York Times: “ The Racial Time-Bomb in the Covid-19 Crisis” — “Early Monday morning the email arrived. The subject line began, ‘ALARM AT THE GATE,’ written in all caps. Someone had died. That is always what that phrasing means.”

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.