COVID 19 by Race

The race hustlers have found a new cause to spread their filth about. The statistical data shows that a disproportionate number of minorities are victims of COVID-19 – in this instance it refers predominantly to African Americans. A study by APM Research Lab shows that:

“The novel coronavirus has claimed more than 63,000 American lives through April 30. Data about the race and ethnicity of the deceased is known for about 8 in 10 of these deaths, which we have compiled from Washington D.C. and the 38 states that are now releasing these statistics. While we have an incomplete picture of the toll of COVID-19, the existing data reveals deep inequities by race—especially for Black Americans.

“The latest available COVID-19 mortality rate for Black Americans is 2.3 times higher than the rate for Latinos, 2.4 times higher than the rate for Asians, and 2.6 times higher than the rate for Whites.”

On their face these seem to be pretty damning statistics. They seem to suggest that the color of one’s skin has something to do with vulnerability to the coronavirus. But like all statistical data unless you ask the underlying questions these statistics are pretty misleading.

In point of fact, the underlying data suggests that vulnerability to the coronavirus has more to do with age, general health conditions, living standards (poverty), education and attitude and virtually nothing to do with race. In fact data from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) indicates that morbidity from COVID 19 is most common among a list of conditions – none of which include race. Those over sixty-five with underlying health conditions such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, chronic lung disease and compromised immune systems, whether by virtue of previous treatments (i.e. chemotherapy, radiation, therapy, etc.) or as a result of autoimmune disease. These discussions are always difficult if you give any credence to “political correctness” because even tangential references to race are deemed to be bigotry. I quit worrying about that years ago and found you learn a lot more by focusing on facts and science than by focusing on political and cultural sensitivities. (My only observation here is that the vast majority of these sensitivities emanate from white liberals who feel compelled to be unsettled on behalf of others.)

Obesity. According to the Center for Disease Control:

 “The prevalence of obesity was 42.4% in 2017~2018.
 From 1999–2000 through 2017–2018, the prevalence of obesity increased from 30.5% to 42.4%, and the prevalence of severe obesity increased from 4.7% to 9.2%.
 Obesity-related conditions include heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer that are some of the leading causes of preventable, premature death.
 The estimated annual medical cost of obesity in the United States was $147 billion in 2008 US dollars; the medical cost for people who have obesity was $1,429 higher than those of normal weight.”

And when measured by race:

 “Non-Hispanic blacks (49.6%) had the highest age-adjusted prevalence of obesity, followed by Hispanics (44.8%), non-Hispanic whites (42.2%) and non-Hispanic Asians (17.4%).
 The prevalence of obesity was 40.0% among young adults aged 20 to 39 years, 44.8% among middle-aged adults aged 40 to 59 years, and 42.8% among older adults aged 60 and olde (sp)”

The CDC information does not included Native Americans mostly because that data, if any, is held by the tribes and based upon self reporting. According to a study by the United States Health and Human Service Department (HHS), obesity among Native Americans is about fifty percent higher than amongst whites.

Diabetes. Obesity is one of the primary causes of Type-2 diabetes. The 2020 National Diabetes Statistics Report from the CDC notes that among whites the incidence of diabetes is 11.9 percent, among Blacks it is 16.4 percent, among Asians it is 14.9 and among Hispanics it is 14.7 percent. Again diabetes data is not included in the CDC notes but HHS estimates that the incidence of diabetes among Native Americans is 2.3 time that of whites.

Cardiovascular disease. A CDC report from information gathered in 2017 indicates that incidence of death by heart disease among whites is 168.9 per hundred thousand people, among Hispanics 114.1 per hundred thousand, among Asian 85.5 per hundred thousand and among Blacks 208.8 per hundred thousand. Here we find that mortality by virtue of cardiovascular disease is slightly lower among Native Americans than Whites.

What these figures indicate is that because of higher incidence of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease African Americans and Native Americans confront the coronavirus with a higher rate of compromised health conditions. Not surprisingly, according to a report from CDC:

“A recent CDC MMWR report included race and ethnicity data from 580 patients hospitalized with lab-confirmed COVID-19 found that 45% of individuals for whom race or ethnicity data was available were white, compared to 55% of individuals in the surrounding community. However, 33% of hospitalized patients were black compared to 18% in the community and 8% were Hispanic, compared to 14% in the community.”

The CDC has not amassed data on the incidence of COVID 19 cases among Native Americans. There are abundant stories in the news regarding the effects of COVID 19 on Native American populations but in most instances the underlying information is either missing, anecdotal or non-existent – another instance when the mainstream media refuses to let facts get in the way of a pre-determined story. What we do know is that when COVID 19 invades a reservation is spreads quickly.

What we also know is that poverty and limited educational achievement is rampant among Blacks and Native Americans. A report by EdSource concluded:

“While racial and ethnic segregation in the nation’s schools is strongly correlated with gaps in academic achievement, the income level of students’ families in a school rather than its racial or ethnic composition account for those gaps, according to a new study.”

Poverty not only dampens educational achievement but more importantly the value that the family and community places on knowledge and education. It is true in African American communities mired for generations in poverty and Native American communities isolated by reservations and ethnic suspicion. (It is also true in White communities in Appalachia and pockets of the bayous in the South.) What all have in common is an overwhelming dependence on welfare. Both suffer from the attitudes of welfare advocates who stress that they are victims, that they are not responsible for poverty, lack of education or societal attitudes. Instead that they are victims of the race and ethnicity. These welfare advocates stress the multitude of government welfare programs at the expense of job training and creation. Add to that the drumbeat of suspicions by the race hustlers like Al Sharpton, Jeremiah Wright, Jesse Jackson and Leonard Peletier. And finally, the politicians who prey on poverty by promising easy remedies and who have in over fifty years delivered nothing. According to the Heritage Foundation President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty created in 1964 has consumed over $22 Trillion through 2014 and the result is that percentage of the population living at or below the poverty level has remained virtually constant.

But the worse part of this is that the lives of those in poverty leave them more vulnerable to death and disease. They are poorly nourished and grossly overweight. They succumb to tobacco, alcohol and drugs and eschew exercise and balanced diets. In large cities they are packed together in multigenerational quarters in spaces designed for significantly less than their numbers. In many instances they lack basic sanitation. Little or no value is placed on education, learning or current events. They do not make life happen rather they are the detritus of life.

Are they people of color? Yes, in disproportionate numbers. But it has more to do with the desperation of their lives than it does with the color of their skins. But there is a large industry focused on preserving their misery for political gain, for job security and for a blind behind which are stacked the real reasons for their misery – poverty, education, health and attitude.

Oregon Catalyst