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A26 u.s. news
Diamars 15 Juni 2021

As US COVID-19 death toll nears 600,000, racial gaps persist

(AP) - Jerry Ramos spent from a high of about 3.3 mil-
his final days in a Cali- lion a day on average in mid-
fornia hospital, hooked April, according to the CDC.
to an oxygen machine Initial vaccine eligibility poli-
with blood clots in his cies, set by states, favored
lungs from COVID-19, his older Americans, a group
3-year-old daughter in his more likely to be white. Now,
thoughts. everyone over 12 is eligible,
but obstacles remain, such as
“I have to be here to watch concerns about missing work
my princess grow up,” the because of side effects from
Mexican American restau- the shot.
rant worker wrote on Face-
book. “My heart feels broken “Eligibility certainly does not
into pieces.” equal access,” Artiga said.
“Losing a day or two of wages
Ramos didn’t live to see it. can have real consequences
He died Feb. 15 at age 32, for your family. People are
becoming not just one of facing tough decisions like
the nearly 600,000 Ameri- that.”
cans who have now perished
in the coronavirus outbreak The AP’s analysis of the out-
but another example of the break’s racial and ethnic pat-
outbreak’s strikingly uneven terns was based on National
and ever-shifting toll on the Hispanics. and Blacks are two to three Francisco, also got sick. Center for Health Statistics
nation’s racial and ethnic times more likely than white data on COVID-19 deaths
groups. people to die of COVID-19. That included his toddler and 2019 Census Bureau
Now, even as the outbreak daughter; the family matri- population estimates.
The approaching 600,000 ebbs and more people get Also, the AP analysis found arch, 70-year-old Mercedes
mark, as tracked by Johns vaccinated, a racial gap ap- that Latinos are dying at Ramos; and his girlfriend, It’s less clear who is dying
Hopkins University, is great- pears to be emerging again, much younger ages than oth- who was the only one in the now, but the still-incom-
er than the population of with Black Americans dy- er groups. household working and the plete data suggests a gap has
Baltimore or Milwaukee. It is ing at higher rates than other first to get infected, bringing emerged again. In Michigan,
about equal to the number of groups. Thirty-seven percent of His- home the virus from her job Black people are 14% of the
Americans who died of can- panic deaths were of those managing a marijuana dis- population but accounted for
cer in 2019. And as bad as that Overall, Black and Hispanic under 65, versus 12% for pensary, according to family 25% of the 1,064 deaths re-
is, the true toll is believed to Americans have less access to white Americans and 30% for members. ported in the past four weeks,
be significantly higher. medical care and are in poor- Black people. Hispanic peo- according to the most recent
er health, with higher rates ple between 30 and 39 — like Mother and son were admit- available state data. Similar
President Joe Biden acknowl- of conditions such as diabe- Ramos — have died at five ted to the same hospital, their gaps were seen in Florida and
edged the milestone Monday tes and high blood pressure. times the rate of white people rooms nearby. They would Pennsylvania.
during his visit to Europe, They are also more likely to in the same age group. video chat or call each other
saying that while new cases have jobs deemed essential, every day. “For people of color like my-
and deaths are dropping dra- less able to work from home Public health experts see self, we’ve had deep personal
matically in the U.S., “there’s and more likely to live in these disparities as a loud experiences during the pan-
still too many lives being crowded, multigenerational message that the nation needs “He would tell me he loved demic” of caring for loved
lost,” and “now is not the households, where working to address deep-rooted ineq- me very much and that he ones and sometimes losing
time to let our guard down.” family members are apt to uities. wanted me to get better and them, said Yolanda Ogbolu, a
expose others to the virus. that he was doing fine, but nurse researcher at the Uni-
On the way to the latest “If we want to respect the he was telling me that so I versity of Maryland, Balti-
round-number milestone, Black people account for dear price that 600,000 peo- wouldn’t worry,” Mercedes more.
the virus has proved adept at 15% of all COVID-19 deaths ple have paid, don’t return to Ramos said in Spanish, her
exploiting inequalities in the where race is known, while normal. Return to something voice breaking. She has since Ogbolu, who is Black, made
U.S., according to an Associ- Hispanics represent 19%, that is better than what was,” returned to her job picking herself an advocate for two
ated Press data analysis. whites 61% and Asian Amer- said Dr. Clyde Yancy, vice strawberries. relatives during their CO-
icans 4%. Those figures are dean for diversity and inclu- VID-19 hospital stays: her
In the first wave of fatalities, close to the groups’ share of sion at Northwestern Uni- Gaps in vaccination rates in 50-year-old police officer
in April 2020, Black people the U.S. population — Black versity’s medical school in the U.S. also persist, with brother — she persuaded his
were slammed, dying at rates people at 12%, Hispanics Chicago. Blacks and Hispanics lagging doctors to treat him with the
higher than those of other 18%, whites 60% and Asians behind, said Samantha Artiga drug remdesivir — and her
ethnic or racial groups as the 6% — but adjusting for age He added: “It will be an epic of the Kaiser Family Founda- 59-year-old repairman uncle.
virus rampaged through the yields a clearer picture of the fail if we simply go back to tion, a nonpartisan health- She called the hospital daily
urban Northeast and heavily unequal burden. whatever we call normal.” policy research organization. during his 100-day stay.
African American cities like
Detroit and New Orleans. Because Blacks and Hispan- Ramos had asthma and dia- Experts say several factors Both survived. But Ogbolu
ics are younger on average betes and had quit his job as could be at work, including wonders whether they would
Last summer, during a second than whites, it would stand a chef at Red Lobster before deep distrust of the medical have lived if they hadn’t had a
surge, Hispanics were hit the to reason that they would the pandemic because of dia- establishment among Black nurse in the family.
hardest, suffering an outsize be less likely to die from a betes-related trouble with his Americans because of a his-
share of deaths, driven by in- disease that has been brutal feet. tory of discriminatory treat- “What happens when people
fections in Texas and Florida. to the elderly. But that’s not ment, and fears of deporta- don’t have that person to
By winter, during the third what is happening. He died during the devas- tion among Latinos, as well push for them? What hap-
and most lethal stage, the vi- tating winter surge that hit as a language barrier in many pens when you don’t even
rus had gripped the entire na- Instead, the Centers for Dis- Latinos hard, and the rest of cases. speak the language?” Ogbolu
tion, and racial gaps in week- ease Control and Prevention, his household of seven in said. “What happens when
ly death rates had narrowed adjusting for population age Watsonville, an agricultural The U.S. was averaging about they don’t know how to
so much that whites were the differences, estimates that city of around 54,000 people 870,000 injections per day navigate the health system or
worst off, followed closely by Native Americans, Latinos about 90 miles south of San in early June, down sharply what questions to ask?”