Black and Latino communities take another loss. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we’ve seen the negative effects it has caused in those communities. With approximately a whooping 600K deaths in the U.S. alone and 4.5 million worldwide.
The communities that had the most overwhelming effects of this pandemic continue to struggle overall. According to statistics these communities include Black and Latino communities, especially the lower working class. This is because of the overrepresentation in the industries where Covid-19 has hit the hardest. Also, most have lost their employment because of it.
The Disparities
Most of the disparities are due to overwhelming institutional racism in Black and Latino communities. They have it harder than their counterparts when it comes to dealing with the economic crisis. Based on January 2021 data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Black and Hispanic or Latino Americans still had higher unemployment rates compared to white individuals, with rates of 9.2 percent and 8.6 percent, respectively, versus 5.7 percent for white individuals.
When President Joe Biden went to visit Europe, all in all cases were dropping in the U.S. He mentioned, “there are still too many lives been lost”, and “now is not the time to let our guard down”.
It shows that during the first wave of when the pandemic hit, Black people suffered the most in comparison to other ethnic groups. However, last summer it was for the Hispanics having outstanding amounts of deaths, by infections in Texas and Florida.
Medical Bias
Moreover, the contagion of Covid-19 in these communities is abundant, it also demonstrates the systematic racism with the medical field.
In health care, when someone makes unconscious associations regarding a patient, it can lead to poor care.
This comes from various stories of people in the Black community who have shown symptoms. Yet doctors dismiss their claims thus, refusing to test them. Now, this can lead to deaths associated with Covid-19 and can lead to the spread of said disease. Meanwhile, families of the infected are left wondering if racial bias was playing a key part in their loved one’s death.
People who have shown these disadvantages are ones who are prone to have a significantly larger mortality rate. The only way to “fix” these disparities, according to researcher Sarah Miller, is vaccination.
“These results show the need for additional efforts to focus on these communities, whether it’s increasing vaccination rates or providing more support to help them recover from the impact of COVID-19.”
