While the virus has had an impact on virtually every age group and geographical area in the U.S., the rates of coronavirus in the Black community are disproportionately high. There are nearly six times as many white people as there are Black people in the United States, but the per capita rates of coronavirus in the Black community are dramatically higher. According to The New York Times’ interactive coronavirus map, there are approximately 62 cases of coronavirus per 100,000 Black people in the U.S., while, among white people, that number is just 23. Only the Latinx community has higher per capita rates of transmission, with 72 cases of coronavirus per 100,000 individuals. But, Fauci believes those shockingly disparate numbers are increasing awareness about the healthcare struggles specific to minority communities—and that could be a good thing in the long-run. According to Fauci, public awareness of the disproportionate effect of coronavirus on minority communities in hospitals and clinics is paramount when it comes to saving lives. The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) noted that not only are Black Americans more likely to develop coronavirus, they’re more likely to have a “serious outcome” from the disease. “When you know you have someone at a greater risk, you make certain medical decisions—you maybe get them in the hospital earlier,” he explained. Fauci specifically highlighted economic inequalities as major barriers to healthcare access among Black Americans, noting that the increased rates of obesity, hypertension, and diabetes in the Black community are “not genetic.” “It has to do with years and years of access to the right kinds of food, access to the right kinds of healthcare,” he explained. RELATED: For more up-to-date information, sign up for our daily newsletter. When Lamont Hill asked if there are targeted efforts being made on a national level to ensure Black people are aware of COVID-19 symptoms and how to protect themselves, Fauci said that’s the responsibility of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which, he believed, is “doing that.“ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb But Fauci also underscored the importance of adequate Black representation in clinical trials for the coronavirus vaccine, without which, “you won’t know whether it works as well in that group, or whether it’s as safe or not in that group,” he explained. “So we are trying now to target, to make sure that there’s proper representation in an equitable way, not only in the vaccine trial, but when the vaccine gets approved… that it is accessible to the African American community, so they can get it as easily, for example, as someone in the white community.” And for more on the places raising an alarm for Fauci, check out Dr. Fauci Is Most Worried About These 4 States.
