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US set to be worst hit by COVID-19 as deaths spike
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has rallied for action over the situation of black people
The figure means that the United States has now officially lost over 13,000 people, only third behind Spain at 14,000 people and Italy at 17,000 deaths recorded so far.
However, given the stage of the epidemic and the number of cases in the US now standing at over 400,000, the US is poised to become the worst hit country.
And, the human toll aside, the US economy given its sensitivity to shocks, is also likely to suffer enormously from the outbreak.
Black Americans are worst hit by COVID-19
In perhaps more frightening trend, the pandemic in the US is killing more black people than their white counterparts, according to several US media outlets.
In all cities across the United States, blacks account for more COVID-19 cases than other races.
In the Midwestern state of Illinois, the population of blacks is just 15 percent and yet 43% of all the COVID-19 deaths are black while 28 of all infections are black.
A similar trend is being experienced in Chicago, one of the biggest cities in the US. There, blacks account for just one third of the population but now account for 72 percent of COVID-19 deaths.
Experts attribute the disproportionately high rate of fatalities among black communities to longstanding inequalities in the US society that has condemned most blacks to poor access to healthcare.
The New York Times says: “Longstanding inequalities also make African-Americans less likely to be insured, and more likely to have existing health conditions and face racial bias that prevents them from getting proper treatment.
It adds: “Initial indications are that doctors are less likely to refer African-Americans for testing when they visit a clinic with symptoms of Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. Since the disease can progress quickly, researchers say, a disparity in testing can lead to considerably worse outcomes.”
The revelations could be a wake up call among those that propagate erroneous claims that black people have a unique advantage compared to whites. On the contrary, it appears that poverty and inequality more often than not exposes someone to becoming a victim of COVID-19 than if they were better off.
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