Data from the U.S. suggests COVID-19 is proving deadlier for black people and Latinos
On the day nearly 800 people died of COVID-19 in New York state, Levan Bryant showed up as usual to supervise the night shift collecting garbage from grocery stores and hospitals.
“I’m just grateful to be working still, and making money, because if we don’t come to work, who will pick up the hospital trash?” he said, standing outside a marshalling depot in the New York City borough of Brooklyn.
“Hey, bring your bottle,” he hollered at a truck driver, handing off a spray bottle of bleach, a mask and gloves, as he made sure the drivers had some protection against the coronavirus.
Action Environmental Services, a private sanitation company in New York, has had to lay off about 40 workers since the city went into lockdown. A 37-year-old worker in the Bronx died from COVID-19 last week, said Stephen Thompson, president of Laborers Local Union 108.
“The men are very nervous about doing the job out here,” he said. “Picking up hospital garbage is pretty nasty and they worry about bringing [the virus] home to their families.”
Coronavirus may have appeared to be the great equalizer, but emerging patterns in the U.S. suggest the virus is proving deadlier for black people and Latinos than other groups.
Essential workers, many from diverse lower-income neighbourhoods in New York and other cities, are more exposed to the threat than people who are able to stay home. And underlying inequalities in accessing health care may make them even more susceptible, as COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus, is particularly severe for those with underlying medical conditions.
“Everyone says that this virus doesn’t discriminate, and in a biological sense, that’s true,” said Mark Levine, a New York councillor and chair of the city’s health committee. “But society discriminates.”
Susan Ormiston – CBC News – April 16, 2020.
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