70% of the people in Louisiana who have died from COVID-19 were African Americans, a group that only makes up about 32% of the state’s population.
LSU Health New Orleans Professor of Public Health Dr. Jim Diaz says there are three likely reasons for that. The first is that the virus is most prevalent in the New Orleans area.
“That is the very largest demographic group represented in the epicenter of the pandemic,” says Diaz.
African Americans make up 60% of the city’s population per Census estimates.
Diaz says the second reason is that COVID-19 is particularly dangerous for patients who have co-morbidities.
“This is a population with an extremely high incidence of hypertension, diabetes, kidney disease, obesity,” says
Diaz says the third reason why African Americans are more likely to die of COVID than other groups is that relative to other groups they are underinsured.
“Many individuals in this demographic may be employed in industries that do not provide employer-sponsored health insurance,” says Diaz.
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