Four months after NYC’s first case, COVID-19 is still in full force across the country and planet. The virus has illuminated racial disparities in healthcare and other systems that existed long before March. While New York State has flattened the curve, the impacts of structural racism continue to be felt.
With Black people dying from the virus at 2.5 times the rate of white people and the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) set to end this coming weekend, Black communities have been most directly affected by the pandemic.
In 2018, 22% Black Americans lived in poverty,compared to 9% of white Americans, and are less likely to be insured, resulting in inequity in access to quality healthcare. These circumstances create vulnerable communities and contribute to underlying medical conditions, all of which create further complications with COVID-19.
Further, even if healthcare is accessible, the medical system in this country has historically asserted race as a biological, not social, construct. This medical racism is perpetuated through differential treatment, racism in the field, and implicit bias. During COVID-19, it has been seen as doctors being less likely to refer their Black patients for testing and the disproportionate rate at which Black people are impacted.
The staggering difference in care and treatment of the virus can even be seen through the incomplete racial data that has been collected. As the CDC faces racism within its own ranks and the Trump Administration has mandated hospitals to send their data to a different federal database, many are concerned that the statistics may be manipulated to show more positive results.
Without accurate data, we do not have the information necessary to fully understand the impact of COVID-19 on the communities most at risk. The reopening has forced workers to return to jobs that are not only low-paying, but also put their lives—and those of their families—in danger. The end of FPUC will only exacerbate this harm.
While Democrats have pushed for another stimulus package that would extend the FPUC and ease the economic struggle of over 25 million workers, many leaders are still advocating for the economy to reopen. Senators from some of the states with the highest proportion of Black recipients have been the most vocal opponents of the FPUC, complaining that the benefit is too high and that it discourages people from going back to work. It is yet another attack on the health and livelihoods of Black, Brown, and low-income communities.
Reopening, cutting off much-needed aid, and racial bias in data collection and treatment of this virus continue to put these communities at extreme risk, leaving them further vulnerable to the impacts of COVID-19.
It is our responsibility as white folks committed to anti-racist work to continue to support those who are most impacted at this time.
To take action today, use this tool from our partners at RAPP to call your legislators and urge them to pass five bills on the #RoadToJustice.
And as always, read on for ways you can plug in and show up this week.
In solidarity,
SURJ NYC