Black Americans have higher rates of obesity, diabetes and hypertension which includes heart disease. None of those conditions help them fight the Wuhan Flu.. Black Americans can certainly cover-up their noses and mouths to help them avoid breathing the virus into their body but the virus can also enter thru the eyes. In addition black people generally live in highly populated areas which can lead to more exposure to the virus. Unfortunately the reporting of COVID-19 by race runs into the barriers erected to prevent racism which means it’s impossible to conclude black people are at greater risk because collecting race based data is forbidden lest it be used against black people.
Logic is one thing. Logic would indicate people in more dense areas are more prone to the infection. Facts are better than logic in this case because they would show the vulnerability by race but that type of data collection, while eminently sensible is prohibited. One way around that prohibition is to collect data by zip code and compart the results in the different areas. We know, for example cities like Detroit, Philadelphia and Chicago have lots of black people so the appearamce of Wuhan Flu will be more deadly than in suburban America. It’s time to start recogizing the biological differences between the races and use that data to help devise plans and programs to help people at higher risk.
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