COVID-19 is killing black Americans at a disproportionately high rate compared to other Americans. Blacks are twice as likely to die from COVID-19 than their white counter parts. Remember the Diabetes your mom had or the high blood pressure your uncle Charlie always talked about? Well, the roosters have come home to roost. We suffer from high blood pressure at a 40 percent higher rate than whites and diabetes at a 60 percent higher rate than whites. Years of segregation, poor access to testing, poor access to treatment and a system that intentionally withholds racial and ethnicity data from reports on the viruses affects and outcomes in the Black Community.
What's really going on? Well here is the skinny :
Fewer protections to prevent exposure due to the devastation of our communities, poor food security, poor air and no green spaces we live an inequitable quality of life
Avoiding Blacks are often suspicious of the medical system because of historical and contemporary discrimination in the medical system.
Lack of Data Blacks have intentionally been left out of the analysis reports until the number of deaths in the black communities from COVID 19 became too large to continue to ignore. Racial Inequality and health inequality is the bottom line. This is what we must put an end to. We cannot afford to go back to a blissful ignorance. With all of the unrest in our world and the killing of our Black men at the hands of the ones who have sworn to serve and protect (US TOO) as a society has been shown to be shown unreliable.
How can we protect our loved ones? What should caregivers do to stay safe and protect our patients?
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