Earlier this year Jennifer Esteen she noticed a sudden change in personnel and supply priorities for medical facilities in communities where she advocates for health workers in the California Bay Area.
The nurse recalled how, for years, calls to address health care inequities that left underserved neighborhoods and communities of color understaffed and underfunded fell mostly on deaf ears. But as warnings about the impending coronavirus emerged, orders from state and local leaders came in March to store supplies and acquire hospital staff. Esteen considered it “insulting”.
“It was remarkably fast and great,” he said. “It felt like a slap in the face to the workers who had been serving in understaffed facilities all these years.”
As reports of community spread grew, trends in racial disparities among those who contracted and died of the virus became evident across the country in places like New Orleans, New York, and Chicago.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, released after the New York Times sued the agency, confirmed what many already knew: of the nearly 1.5 million coronavirus patients in the United States through the Black people and Latino communities are at present disproportionately at risk of contracting. and dying from the coronavirus.
Black and Latino people in the United States account for almost a third of all cases and are almost twice as likely to die from the virus as their white counterparts. Many health experts argue that the data underscores how racial bias shapes not only policy, but also public behavior during health crises.
Not only are African Americans and African Americans more likely to be uninsured or live in areas without quality facilities, but unconscious racial bias among medical professionals may also contribute to uneven health outcomes, with patients of color more likely to that your symptoms are overlooked or your pain is not believed. Some experts point to people of color who later died of Covid-19 who were previously rejected as evidence of bias in the pandemic.
Esteen argued that “it is no coincidence” that state priorities, fueled by the rhetoric of Donald Trump and his allies, were reopened after the data confirmed these disparities.
“It tells our communities that they don’t matter and that their health care is not important enough to prioritize or invest until the rich or the whites are affected,” he said.
Dr. Mary T Bassett, director of the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University and former commissioner of the New York State health department, argues that politics and political rhetoric can reinforce the racist tropes.
“He blames them for his own health outcome and not for the social conditions that created it,” he said, adding that existing inequities in health care make people of color more susceptible, along with pre-existing conditions and an increased trend. to live in densely populated areas
According to research from the AP Public Affairs Research Center and NORC, African Americans are more likely to know someone who has died from the virus, with 11% knowing a victim compared to 5% of Americans overall. and 4% of white Americans.
Bassett said that was to be expected when blacks are disproportionately affected, but argued that framing racial disparities as inevitable or normal is “rooted in bias,” allowing less affected communities to view the outbreak as more distant. , which leads them to be more concerned. and reckless.
“When people see themselves as less connected to the affected demographics, it influences how they respond to health care orientation,” said Bassett. “That ability to reject calls to wear a mask or maintain a social distance as ‘other people’s problem’ has a privilege.”
The survey found that while 88% of respondents said they avoided public and crowded places in May, that number fell to 69% in June according to the Covid Impact Survey.
Almost all states instituted stay-at-home orders, banned large gatherings, and closed deals, severely disrupting the United States economy. But as some defied those orders, accusations of uneven application and racial profiling flared up in places like New York City.
Esteen sees bias developing firsthand in his community. Because California’s black and Latino residents died more frequently than any other race, she said that residents of predominantly white communities in the Bay area frequented public spaces without masks or social alienation.
He fears uneven enforcement will increase as local protests unfold in response to the murder of George Floyd, a black man who was killed by a White Minneapolis police officer. Many experts warned that large protests spanning several months could create an increase in the spread of the virus.
“But I was surprised and encouraged by protesters who were not only socially active, but socially responsible,” she said.
New research by the National Bureau of Economic Statistics found “no evidence” that the Black Lives Matter protests caused an increase in the number of new Covid-19 cases. The study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, analyzed data from 315 cities across the country, including 281 cities that had protests and 34 that did not.
“The data suggests that while there is a small increase in the number of confirmed cases among the protesting population, that did not result in further dissemination from the community that concerned people,” said Dhaval Dave, co-author of the study and Professor at Bentley University.
But the study also suggests that bias shaped public behavior in another way. Dave theorized that fear of racial tension and community warnings of upcoming protests kept people in their homes.
“Those who chose to stay home in response to the protests increased their social distancing, creating a counter-effect,” said Dave.
Health professionals have linked relaxed orders and parties to stay home, not protests, to an increase in cases. That hasn’t stopped some state and national Republican leaders from blaming the Black Lives Matter protests, and some have only answered calls to reopen or pass laws requiring masks.
Most states have reported a sharp increase in coronavirus cases, with some reporting record daily totals. Black and brown communities face a disproportionate risk with the increase, making up the majority of all front-line and service workers.
“Each and every one of us is affected by racism,” said Dr. Bassett. “It is so deeply embedded in our history and institutions that when our society pushes reopening at the expense of some community, that sends the message that those people are not essential, they are disposable.”
Meanwhile, as the videos of most white Americans who angrily reject the masks or social distancing requirements go viral online, Esteen warned that these separate communities are deeply connected. The contempt of one could spell the despair of the other.
“You can’t reproduce a front-line or health worker,” he said. “If we get sick, who will take care of the next patient the day the virus reaches your community? Because it will.
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