Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Virus Outbreak Seems To Hit Black Americans At Alarming Rate But Lack Of Data Obstructs Full Picture
Stat: ‘We’re Flying Blind’: African Americans May Be Bearing The Brunt Of Covid-19, But Access To Data Are Limited
Stark statistics are coming to light only now and only in piecemeal fashion showing that African Americans are disproportionately affected by Covid-19. The widening racial divide in who gets infected, who gets tested, and who dies from Covid-19 is emerging from the few cities and states whose data is public. (Cooney, 4/6)
Politico: ‘We Cannot Have A Colorblind Policy’: Lack Of Racial Data Obstructs Coronavirus Fight
The majority of states either aren’t actively ensuring collection or aren’t releasing full racial and ethnic data on those tested and treated for coronavirus. And without that data, two dozen health professionals and policymakers told POLITICO, it will be difficult to provide communities of color the resources to treat and recover from coronavirus — and to diagnose it in the first place. “We cannot have a colorblind policy,” said Stephen Thomas, director of the University of Maryland’s Center for Health Equity. “With a colorblind policy — ‘Hey, we're all in this together’ — we'll be left with an explosion of Covid-19 concentrated in racial and ethnic minority communities.” (Barron-Lopez, Otterbein and King, 4/6)
The New York Times: Black Americans Face Alarming Rates Of Coronavirus Infection In Some States
In Louisiana, one of the states most devastated by the coronavirus, about 70 percent of the people who have died are African-American, officials announced on Monday, though only a third of the state’s population is black. In the county around Milwaukee, where 27 percent of residents are black, nearly twice as many African-American residents tested positive for the virus as white people, figures released this week show. And in Chicago, where African-American residents make up a little less than a third of the population, more than half of those found to have the virus are black. (Oppel, Searcey and Eligon, 4/7)
Los Angeles Times: L.A. Is Missing Racial Data For Many Coronavirus Deaths
As cities such as Chicago and Philadelphia report stark racial disparities in coronavirus patients and fatalities, Los Angeles County officials say they are scrambling to collect missing data on the race or ethnicity of local victims. The county’s public health director said Monday she was worried by reports from other states that suggested black patients were being infected and dying of COVID-19 in disproportionate numbers, but that missing data prevented her staff from determining if that was happening locally. (Barboza and Serna, 4/6)
New Orleans Times-Picayune: Coronavirus Disparity In Louisiana: About 70% Of The Victims Are Black, But Why?
Roughly 70% of the people who have died from coronavirus in Louisiana are black, a striking disparity for a state where African-Americans make up only 32% of the population that experts attributed to entrenched racial divides around economic opportunity and health care access. (Russell and Karlin, 4/6)
Detroit Free Press: Coronavirus Fight Must Include Impact On Minorities, Experts Say
The coronavirus is taking its starkest toll on African Americans in Michigan: They account for just 14% of the state's population but 33% of COVID-19 cases and 41% of deaths. The state was praised Monday for being one of the few that collects and reports data on the impact of the virus by race and ethnicity by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C., that fights racial discrimination. (Dixon and Moran, 4/7)
