(CN) — On April 9, the 13th person in St. Louis, Missouri, died of complications related to the novel coronavirus.
While the 13 deaths in the 11th-largest city in the Midwest were not statistically aberrant nor particularly concerning from a purely epidemiological point of view, there was one alarming contextual aspect of those initial fatalities.
All 13 of the victims were black.
Since then, four more St. Louis residents have succumbed to the disease — though three of them were not black. But the trends in St. Louis and more broadly throughout the United States consistently demonstrate that black communities have been disproportionately hit by the global pandemic.
"If you look at the health disparities in the city of St. Louis, they're not unique," St. Louis' health director Dr. Fredrick Echols said last week during a press briefing.
Other major cities that have released demographic data for Covid-19 fatalities indicate similar trends.
In Chicago, black residents comprise 30% of the city’s population but account for approximately 70% of the deaths. Statewide, black men and women account for about 43% of the approximately 530 deaths. Only 14% of residents in Illinois are black.
In New York City, the epicenter of the outbreak in the United States, preliminary data released by the state showed that black and Latino individuals are dying at twice the rate as whites and Asians.
The age-adjusted rate for Covid-19 fatalities in New York City is 19.2 deaths per 100,000 confirmed cases for black residents. It is approximately half that for white residents — 10.2 deaths per 100,00.
It’s worse in parts of the South.
In Louisiana and Mississippi, black residents account for more than 60% of the coronavirus-related deaths, according to preliminary data.
And the trend prevalent throughout the country, though the data are limited. Of the nearly 13,000 deaths from coronavirus as of April 9, racial data was available for about 3,300 victims — and 43% of them were black.
All the data raises a simple question — why? Is it socioeconomic, cultural or are their genetic factors at play?
“Listen, there could be a gene that African Americans carry that makes them more susceptible,” said Sean Valles, who studies health’s intersection with population demographics at Michigan State University. “It’s not impossible.”
But he also says it’s unlikely, particularly as there are a bevy of explanations that make much more sense.
“On the other side, there is just so much damn evidence for the socioeconomic factors at play here,” Valles said. “First, all you have to do is look at the proportion of black people versus white people who are working jobs that can’t be done remotely.”
Health care givers, cashiers, grocers, public transportation employees and farmworkers are jobs often filled by people of color.
Conversely, professional and business services — the sector of the economy most amenable to remote work — is underrepresented by black men and women, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The same federal agency found black people have less access to paid leave than the general population, meaning a larger share must put themselves in harm’s way to earn their living.
“Black people disproportionately have the type of jobs that put you at risk,” said Thomas LaVeist, the dean of the Tulane University School of Public Health.
It’s not just where black residents work either, but also where they live.
Census data from January 2020 showed that less than half of black Americans own their own home compared to 74% of white Americans, and are more likely to live in crowded apartment complexes that put them at increased risk of infection.
There are environmental factors as well.
Follow @@MatthewCRenda
