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Black Communities Hit Disproportionately Hard by Coronavirus

HeadlineApr 06, 2020

Data is emerging showing major racial disparities in coronavirus death rates across the country. In Chicago, 70% of COVID-19 fatalities have been black residents, despite making up less than 30% of the population. In New York City, coronavirus patients from the Bronx, which has large black and Latinx populations, are twice as likely to die from the infection as elsewhere in the city. City and public health officials say the disproportionately higher rate is due to a greater number of underlying health conditions, such as diabetes and asthma, lack of access to testing and healthcare, and poor conditions in public housing that promote the spread of the disease. New Orleans, a majority-black city, now has the highest coronavirus death rate in the entire country.

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