VIRUS VICTIMS | Race, Housing, Occupation

Ibram X. Kendi, in “Why Don’t We Know Who the Coronavirus Victims Are?(The Atlantic, April 1, 2020), provides some basic evidence that African Americans are disproportionately victims of the disease. However, in many states we just don't know. He begs for more attention to including demographic data in death statistics.

Kendi cites data showing that African Americans are 14.6 percent of the Illinois population, but are 28 percent of confirmed cases of the coronavirus (Latinos, however, are a much smaller percentage of deaths than in the population). In Michigan, blacks are 14 percent of the population but 41 percent of the victims. An even more striking disparity has occurred in Milwaukee, where blacks account for 26 percent of the population but are half of the reported cases and 81 percent of deaths. Here is a starter table.

For New York State, the blacks represent 28 percent of victims of COVID-19, but are 22 percent of the population. Hispanics are 34 percent of the victims and 29 percent of the population. (Victims are 60.7 percent male and 39.2 percent female, a difference that holds nationwide.)

In New York City, the higher-income areas of Manhattan are largely virus-free whereas above 125th Street the numbers shift to higher rates of infection. 

Kendi's article notes that Latinos are a much smaller percentage of deaths in Illinois than their proportion of the population. In fact, the disparity between deaths among black victims of the virus and the population is erased in Illinois by the opposite relationship among Latinos, i.e., fewer deaths relative to their share of the population. If the two percentages are added together they are both 35 percent. A worrisome feature for Chicago is that its ability to handle a surge of coronavirus cases is limited by its pre-virus financial problems.

However, on Long Island, in both Nassau and Suffolk County, deaths in Latino communities are much higher than in the rest of the population. 

Not in the article are some possible explanations of the disparities. Here are some I can think of:

• Commute. The trip to work is likely to be on public transit in urban areas, buses or commuter trains.
• Occupation. African Americans in Illinois are well represented in occupations that bring them into contact with carriers of the virus, in hospitals, nursing homes, and in health care aide roles; as delivery personnel and drivers; and in food and drug stores.
• Housing. Intergenerational living, with three generations under the same roof, is common, as both a cultural and an income-related factor.
• Health. The largest numbers of comorbidities with the COVID-19 virus are connected with hypertension and diabetes. Early and severe hypertension among African Americans has been tied to salt sensitivity. Obesity is another risk factor for both hypertension and diabetes.