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70 Percent of Coronavirus Deaths in Louisiana Are African Americans, Despite Being 33 Percent of the Population
significant majority of coronavirus deaths in Louisiana were African Americans, although the demographic makes up only a third of the southern state's population.
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, announced on Monday that more than 70 percent of the deaths from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, were African Americans in his state. He said that this was "obviously" a "big disparity."
"Disturbingly, this information is going to show you that slightly more than 70 percent of the deaths in Louisiana are of African Americans," Edwards said during a press briefing. "So that deserves more attention and we're going to have to dig into that and see what we can do to slow that trend down," he added.
African Americans are estimated to make up just about 33 percent of the state's population, according to the most recent census data.
The Wall Street Journal analyzed data from New York City, reporting that neighborhoods in the Queens borough with the largest immigrant populations were the hardest hit by the coronavirus. The Charlotte Observer also reported that in Charlotte, North Carolina–which is just one-third black–about 44 percent of the confirmed coronavirus cases were African Americans.
Reporting by ProPublica showed that 80 percent of coronavirus deaths in Milwaukee, Wisconsin were African American, while the city is just 26 percent black. Similar stats have been observed in Illinois and Michigan.
The Radio Gawds had some comments on this, on my way home from work. They note that predominantly black neighborhoods aren't observing the social distancing thing. I really can't address that, my search skills aren't finding that sort of info.
Funny, when I searched for coronavirus demographics, this article is the only one that really addresses the question. Oh, there are pages and pages of hits, addressing age, but that's about it.
Makes me wonder if the claims are true or not, or whether it's just too early to start counting the bodies. Or, is it simply that nobody cares, including the black community?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 07 2020, @05:06PM (11 children)
ABC7, deaths in Chicago
White 19 11%
Black 113 68%
Hispanic 14 8%
Asian 6 3.6%
Demographics (2016)
White 32.6%
Hispanic 29.7%
Blacks 29.3%
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 07 2020, @05:28PM (10 children)
Interesting. I wonder what prior health complications they had.
In the case of New York I had been thinking the main group of victims would be hasidic jews, as they like to crowd up to be close to their guru.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 07 2020, @06:35PM
The same observation has been made of mosques and the Korean outbreak centered on a Christian cult [qz.com] who took the gift to Israel. [timesofisrael.com]
Wonder about the fuller demographics and if mass transport may show wealthy (international travel) and poorer (public transport) communities have higher infections than suburban dwelling, car commuting middle classes.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 07 2020, @08:13PM
Maybe they had predamaged their lungs when marijuana vape wasn't banned yet.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 07 2020, @09:21PM
AIDS? [kff.org] Untreated asthma? [hhs.gov] Vitamin D deficiency? [nih.gov] Interesting article here [theatlantic.com] but I'd like to see the demographic figures for Atlanta metro which is a more even black / white distribution. Also disparities in UK cases [theguardian.com] with many centered around London where white British people are a minority. [wikipedia.org]
Here's another conundrum, why is the death rate so low in Germany [europa.eu] when they have an aging population [visualcapitalist.com] comparable to Italy, Spain and France?
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday April 07 2020, @11:41PM (2 children)
May not be only* health complications. Could be some random thing in the genes that just never made it down to sub-Saharan Africa like neanderthal DNA didn't. Or it could be a never before noticed genetic oddity like the sickle cell.
* It's a given that black folks are disproportionately poor relative to their population percentage. It's further a given that poor folks are more likely to be smokers.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday April 08 2020, @12:51AM (1 child)
From what I see here in my urban area, the Blacks just don't give a fuck. They're still out loitering by liquor stores and at public parks publicly urinating and smoking Black N Milds [pipesandcigars.com] and drinking Old English "800" [wikipedia.org] Malt Liquor.
In a particularly funny recent local case, Blacks were drinking at a public park. Well, the cops showed up and ordered them to disperse through their copcar bullhorn. Two of the Blacks got up to walk away and were so intoxicated they fell right over, and the rest of the Blacks at the picnic table told the cops to fuck off. Violating the shelter-in-place congregation order is a thousand-dollar fine here, but the cops no longer waste time trying to fine people they know won't pay the fine.
But I have to admire that partying spirit, and totally understand why Blacks don't believe a goddamn thing that comes from Whitey's mouth.
(Score: 2) by Aegis on Wednesday April 08 2020, @02:56PM
Those are just Democratic primary voters in Wisconsin. The GOP is trying to murder them with a pandemic.
(Score: 0, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 08 2020, @04:19AM
Not having White privilege? Just guessing, since this a down-low racist journal by the "Not a Racicst" racist motherfucking no-ggod pathetic under-achieving redneck hillbilly mother-and Horse-fucking Runaway. But, I may be biased.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 08 2020, @04:56PM (2 children)
Why is it okay to acknowledge that e.g. hasidic Jews will behave differently as a group, while we must pretend that blacks as a group will act, more or less, the same as everybody else?
Just doesn't make any sense, and it's not true. There may have been preexisting health conditions, but take a look at any public venue to see the real culprit. Blacks are, disproportionately, acting like it's business as usual. Of course they're not [youtube.com] the only ones doing this, yet when others do it - it becomes national news. Nobody says a peep about the blacks because they're afraid of being seen as racist. Blacks act very differently than other races. And that is okay to acknowledge. And in this case, their behavior is literally killing them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 09 2020, @12:59AM (1 child)
As I pointed out elsewhere [soylentnews.org] in more detail, the minimum standard sidewalk width is 4 1/2 feet, and poor neighborhoods don't get extras. The different behaviour (see comment) is being forced upon them.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 09 2020, @06:48PM
Hah! It has nothing to do with this. Look at who's walking about without masks, look at who is soliciting outside, look at who is voluntarily congregating. Blacks are heavily over represented, and thus they're heavily over represented in corona casualties. You can find various street cams on YouTube by searching for something like street cam and setting your filter to 'live' only.
You don't get corona being 4 feet away from somebody, especially not when you're wearing a mask. You get it by acting an idiot over a prolonged period of time. I am in no way suggesting blacks are the only ones doing this, merely that they are vastly over-represented among the group of all idiots behaving this way.