What It Means To Be Black In A Global Pandemic

© Photo by Bebeto Matthews

Using institutionalized racism and racialized poverty to explain why COVID-19 has hit Black communities so hard. I will use the theory of syndemics to examine the relationship between socio-economic status, institutionalized racism, and susceptibility to COVID-19.

The novel COVID-19 has affected Black Americans at a significantly higher rate than any other group in the United States. While there is limited data surrounding the exact death toll demographics, data collected by the APM Research Lab reveals deep inequalities of COVID-19 related deaths by race, especially for Black Americans. The mortality rate for Black Americans is 2.3 times higher than the rate of Latinos and Asians, and 2.6 times higher than the rate for Whites. That is to say that if Black Americans were dying at an equal rate as White Americans, then 9,000 of the 15,000 Black Americans who have died of COVID-19 would still be alive today (APM 2020). President Trump addressed this racial inequity at a recent White house briefing. “Why is it that the African American Community is so much, numerous times more [likely to die] than everybody else? It doesn’t make sense.” However, after an examination of institutionalized racism, poverty and their additive effects on negative health outcomes. It makes perfect sense. Higher COVID-19 deaths can be explained using the weathering hypothesis which suggests that Black Americans’ health deteriorates more rapidly than other racial groups because they endure a heavier allostatic load. This load is made up of the social determinants of health including housing, income, working conditions; all of which are shaped by public policies with embedded racism. The theory of syndemics states that the cooccurance an interaction of multiple adverse conditions within a population exacerbate the bruden of disease and additively increase negative health outcomes (Herrick 2020).This global pandemic is shining light on the decades of disparities in housing, jobs, education, access to health care, and stress levels for Black Americans and these disparities are exacerbating the effects of COVID-19 (Gordon 2020). Black Americans have higher rates of underlying comorbid conditions such as heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, asthma, and lung disease which predisposes the population to the more detrimental consequences of COVID-19 (Herrick 2020).

But why do Black Americans have all of these underlying conditions?

An answer can come from the existing social and economic structures that predate the pandemic. The social gradient is a model that states that people who find themselves lower on the socioeconomic hierarchy suffer from more disease and illness and consequently do not live as long. Research has shown that there is a negative correlation between income and COVID-19 susceptibility; the poorer you are, the more susceptible to COVID-19 you become (Gordon 2020). Black Americans are more likely to hold “essential” low paying jobs with no health benefits. Less access to healthcare is one of the many reasons that Black Americans are being killed at such high rates. Without health insurance, treatment for COVID-19 and other underlying health conditions is too costly for many Black Americans. Access to private health insurance is linked with employment and marriage in the U.S.; two categories that Black Americans are disadvantaged in (Walker 2020). Our population is more likely to be unemployed and are less likely to get married than White Americans. These social and economic factors create instability in insurance coverage amongst Black Americans compared to Whites and directly translate into health disparities and unequal health outcomes.

© Photo by Associated Press

Underlying comorbid conditions and lack of access to healthcare are direct products of institutionalized racism and only explain a fragment of why Black Americans are more susceptible to COVID-19. It has been established that Black Americans are more likely to hold low income “essential” service jobs. The physical working conditions often require close contact with others and in many cases require public transportation to get to work. Working conditions are a crucial factor in health disparities. These service jobs are low income which force impoverished workers to live in crowded homes and unsanitary living spaces making the practice of social distancing harder than it already is for Black Americans. The effects of these social determinants of health shaped by institutional policies additively contribute to higher stress levels that weaken immune functioning which AGAIN increase susceptibility of COVID-19 to Black people. The theory of syndemics encapsulates the immense additive burden of aversive conditions within the Black population and explains how they result in negative health outcomes (Herrick 2020). Black people are not dying of COVID-19 because we are touching our face too much and not standing six feet apart. Black people are dying of COVID-19 because of institutionalized racism, racialized poverty, the greed of the American healthcare system, stress, housing, education, jobs, and decades of racism. While it is sickening to watch the death toll of Black Americans rise, after examining these factors, it makes perfect sense.

Work cited:

APM Research Lab. “COVID-19 Deaths Analyzed by Race and Ethnicity.” Accessed May 7, 2020. https://www.apmresearchlab.org/covid/deaths-by-race.

Scott, Eugene.“Analysis | 4 Reasons Coronavirus Is Hitting Black Communities so Hard.” Washington Post. Accessed May 7, 2020. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/04/10/4-reasons-coronavirus-is-hitting-black-communities-so-hard/.

Walker, Jonathan D. “Health Care System a Major Factor in African Americans’ Poorer Health.” Accessed May 7, 2020. https://pnhp.org/news/health-care-system-a-major-factor-in-african-americans-poorer-health/.

Gordon, Serena. “Why Are Blacks, Other Minorities Hit Hardest By COVID-19?” Accesssed May 7, 2020. https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2020-05-06/why-are-blacks-other-minorities-hardest-hit-by-covid-19

Sohn, Heeju. “Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Insurance Coverage: Dynamics of Gaining and Losing Coverage over the Life-Course.” Population Research and Policy Review 36, no. 2 (April 2017): 181–201. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11113-016-9416-y.

Tampa Bay Times. “It’s about Racism, Not Race, When Coronavirus Hits Communities of Color Hard | Column.” Accessed May 7, 2020. https://tampabay.com/opinion/2020/04/15/its-about-racism-not-race-when-coronavirus-hits-communities-of-color-hard-column/.

Herrick, Claire. “Syndemics of COVID-19 and ‘Pre-Existing Conditions,’” March 30, 2020. http://somatosphere.net/2020/syndemics-of-covid-19-and-pre-existing-conditions.html/