updated Tue June 9, 2020
As confirmed COVID-19 cases top 1.8 million in the United States and the pandemic batters our nation’s health care system and economy, data are starting to retell an all-too-familiar story: Black Americans are disproportionately affected. Simply put, black Americans’ COVID-19 hospitalization and death rates are too high considering that we only make up about 13 percent of the US population. we need to shun lip service and do genuine work, which includes:
- confronting the hard truth that injustice and the devaluing of black Americans’ lives is woven into our society—it is part of our nation’s origins and design;
- honoring the diversity of the black American population; and
- meaningfully engaging black experts and citizens in defining the problems, developing solutions, and assessing progress toward health equity