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Friday (April 8) marked one year since the CDC declared racism a threat to public health, yet Black people are still being hit the hardest by the pandemic.
A new report by the Black Coalition Against COVID-19 reveals that Black Americans are continuing to experience the “highest rate of hospitalization” of any racial or ethnic group as hospitalizations and deaths trend down for the U.S. as a whole.
In a week’s time, Black people faced double the amount of COVID-19 hospitalizations than any other race during the month of January — and compared to their white counterparts, it was triple.
“This was the highest weekly rate of any race and ethnicity at any point during the pandemic,” the report states.
According to the report, “racial and ethnic disparities” are expected to continue as people experience long-term COVID-19 symptoms.
The pandemic has also disproportionately affected Black children. Between April 2020 to June 2021, one in 310 Black children lost a parent or caregiver compared to one in 738 white children, the report notes.
Last April, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) declared racism “a serious public health threat.”
According to CNN, Dr. Reed Tuckson, co-founder of the Black Coalition Against Covid-19, said that the CDC's declaration gave national attention to the root of health disparities in America. However, the coalition's new report serves as a reminder that the pandemic is not over — especially for Black people.
Dr. Tuckson said, "We have a lot of work ahead of us and a lot of problems that have gotten so much worse."
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