No Racism in America? An Addendum

Yesterday, I claimed the plague of racism rages in America. I will admit that it's nothing like the racism prevalent prior to the Civil Rights Act.

An act of Congress, no matter how powerful, cannot eliminate a mindset. Therefore, racism still exists.

It affects individuals.

It kills them.

I repeat myself because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released the following to all health care workers:

"The effects of COVID-19 on the health of racial and ethnic minority groups is still emerging; however, current data suggest a disproportionate burden of illness and death among racial and ethnic minority groups.  A recent CDC MMWR report included race and ethnicity data from 580 patients hospitalized with lab-confirmed COVID-19 found that 45% of individuals for whom race or ethnicity data was available were white, compared to 55% of individuals in the surrounding community. However, 33% of hospitalized patients were black compared to 18% in the community and 8% were Hispanic, compared to 14% in the community. These data suggest an overrepresentation of blacks among hospitalized patients. Among COVID-19 deaths for which race and ethnicity data were available, New York City identified death rates among Black/African American persons (92.3 deaths per 100,000 population) and Hispanic/Latino persons (74.3) that were substantially higher than that of white (45.2) or Asian (34.5) persons."

It recommended that health care professionals "identify and address implicit bias that could hinder patient-provider interactions and communication." (The boldface was the agency's emphasis.)

The agency also lists details about how it will study and deal with the issue of disproportionate deaths among African Americans and Latinos. It is covered environmental conditions common to these two groups that make it easier for them to contract COVID-19.

The center's research and warnings are important. For centuries African Americans have not received top care from the medical industry, and as noted in the New York Times, there's research to support this claim. The problem goes deeper. The medical field has experimented, exploited, and mistreated African Americans, creating suspicion. "Now comes Covid-19, and the fear among many families, social scientists and public health experts that racial bias might be contributing to the disproportionately high rate at which the novel coronavirus is killing African-Americans," as noted in the Times .

Lick the suspicion, and maybe we'll lick more COVID-19 hotspots. Don't, and we--meaning all Americans--will encourage the virus to continue its nasty work.