Health test graphicHealth test graphic

The fact that roughly 70 percent of the Louisianans killed by the coronavirus are African-American is disturbing to health and public officials because they comprise only 32 percent of the state’s population. The situation is similar in other parts of the country.

More than half of the coronavirus deaths in Louisiana have occurred in Orleans and Jefferson parishes, and both have large African-American populations. St. John Parish is 58 percent black, and it has the highest per capita death rate of any county in the country.

Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League and a former mayor of New Orleans, said he is glad the information has been released. He said it is necessary to understand what has taken place and why.

The Advocate said there is definitely a link to the health condition of African-Americans because very few of the dead had no underlying health conditions, and some had more than one. Two-thirds of those who died in the state had hypertension, nearly half had diabetes and one in four was either obese or suffered from chronic kidney disease.

The newspaper said several experts said the prevalence of chronic health conditions among black people is clear evidence of lingering structural racism in health care delivery. One researcher said the differences are produced by policy, not physiology.

U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans, said he believes economic and cultural factors may have led African-Americans to take longer to self-isolate. He said if people had to work, they may have just dropped children at their grandparents.

Dr. Camara Jones, a family physician, epidemiologist and visiting fellow at Harvard University said, “We’re seeing more infection in black communities, and that’s because of the front-facing jobs and not being able to work at home. Morial said blue-collar workers are unable to work from home and they are either going to work under risky conditions or get laid off.

Jones said she wishes the data would cause Americans to look inward and be more compassionate about the everyday people who are risking their health to deliver the mail or to restock grocery shelves. They aren’t just EMTs and respiratory technicians, she said, but also include low-wage earners.

Gov. John Bel Edwards said the state is going to try and figure out why so many African-Americans are losing their lives. Something can be done, and Edwards said he wants to do it as quickly as possible.

Richmond is correct when he says we can’t be OK being No. 1 or No. 2 in obesity, in poverty and health outcomes. He said the state has to raise the bar in terms of health and education.