Black Americans More Likely to Know Someone Who Has Died of COVID-19

FRIDAY, June 26, 2020 (HealthDay News) — Far more black Americans say they know someone personally who has died of COVID-19 than whites, a new poll finds.

The rates were 31 percent of black adults, 17 percent of Hispanic adults, and 9 percent of white adults, according to the Washington Post-Ipsos nationwide survey. The poll also found that just over half of black Americans said they know at least one person who has gotten sick with COVID-19 or died from it, compared with fewer than 4 in 10 Hispanic or white Americans.

The poll’s findings highlight the significant racial differences in how Americans are being affected by the pandemic, according to the Post. Experts say those differences are due to longstanding socioeconomic inequality.

“This pandemic has really unearthed — shone a real bright light on — the ways these disparities should not be accepted and are not tolerable,” Joseph Betancourt, M.D., M.P.H., the vice president and chief equity and inclusion officer at Massachusetts General Hospital, told the Post.

Washington Post Article