6 times as deadly: COVID-19's brutal impact on Black people in D.C.
If Black Americans were dying at an equal rate to white Americans from the coronavirus, at least 13,000 Black lives would have been spared, according to Andi Egbert with the APM Research Lab.
See the original WJLA report here.
A report compiled by the non-partisan research group found that as of May 27, 2020, Black Americans were more than twice as likely to die of COVID-19 than whites, Latinos and Asian Americans.
Egbert says that, at the start of their research, only seven states were reporting race in their coronavirus data, but that existing health disparities among races motivated them to begin processing the numbers.
If Black Americans were dying at an equal rate to white Americans from coronavirus, at least 13,000 Black lives would have been spared.
“From the beginning of our reporting, back less than two months ago we had lost about 15,000 Americans to the virus, now as we all know we've exceeded 100,000 lives lost," Egbert says. "But the deep inequities, especially for Black Americans have been there at every point.”
APM Research Lab found that the disparity in the District of Columbia is the highest in the nation.
“Sadly, the magnitude of the disparity is greater in D.C. than anywhere else,” says Egbert.
Demographic data provided by the DC Department of Health consistently shows that Black residents make up at least 76% of deaths in the pandemic, compared to 11% of whites.
Comparatively, Blacks make up just 46% of the District’s population, while whites make up 37%, according to Census Bureau estimates.
While 333 Blacks have lost their lives to COVID-19 as of May 29, 2020, only 49 whites have.
“Those are mothers and fathers and grandparents and bus drivers," Egbert says. "And you know, it makes my heart ache."
Those mothers, fathers, grandparents and bus drivers. And you know, it makes my heart ache.
APM’s research finds that the Black death rate in the District is nearly six times that of whites. In the nation's capital, 106 Black people per 100,000 have died from the virus.
Egbert calls the figures “exceptional.”
“It’s something we've seen over many weeks so it's not a hiccup in the data," she says. "It's a fairly durable pattern we're seeing there."
Nationally, the disparities appear to be hyper-localized, but not necessarily focused on large cities. Kansas, which is mostly rural, ranks second in the overall disparity among races according to APM.
ALSO READ: Visualizing COVID-19 in the DMV: New cases, deaths and hot-spots
Across the border from the District in Virginia, the gap in the death rate between Blacks and whites is much smaller. Fifteen out of every 100,000 coronavirus deaths are Black people, compared with 11 out of 100,000 whites.
In fact, only 277 Black residents in all of Virginia have died of COVID-19, 62 fewer than in D.C., while Virginia’s Black population is roughly five times larger than the District’s.
Egbert believes the hyper-local nature of the disparities can help communities better address the crisis.
“I think it can be something that can help, give us something in our tool box that also lets us get feet on the ground working in those communities,” Egbert says.
DC’s Ward 8, which DC Health Matters reports has a population that is 92% Black, is also the Ward with the highest number of deaths — at least 94, according to DC Department of Health data.
Egbert says she and the APM Research Lab team will continue to publish the data they track, because while the nation begins stages of reopening, the pandemic has not passed and is still adversely affecting some communities more than others.
“No matter how you feel, this is what we're living through," Egbert says. "So, you might feel fatigued and you might be ready to snap back to whatever life you had three months ago. But we need to say, this is the cost and this is the really inequitable cost to families, to shredding the fabric of neighborhoods. And so we'll continue to put it out.”
Comments
Post a Comment