Why African Americans are dying at higher rates from COVID-19

• April 08 2020
• http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business-observer/why-african-americans-are-dying-at-higher-rates-from-covid-19_191623

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The new coronavirus isn't picky about who it infects, so why does data emerging from some states suggest that African Americans are bearing the brunt?

Experts say the community is disproportionately impacted by underlying conditions linked to poverty, and often faces challenges in accessing testing and health care.

“We know that blacks are more likely to have diabetes, heart disease, lung disease,” the nation's top doctor, Surgeon General Jerome Adams, told CBS News yesterday.

These chronic illnesses can lead to more serious forms of the COVID-19 disease.

Adams, who is himself black and has high blood pressure and asthma, added: “I represent that legacy of growing up poor and black in America.

“And I, and many black Americans, are at higher risk for COVID.”