The rates of death for Black people considered to be of working age and below the age of 25 disproportionately increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study.
Published late last week in the scientific journal JAMA Network Open, the study highlighted significant racial disparities that were exaggerated during the pandemic. Overall, 23 million years of potential life were lost because of the pandemic as part of the 1.38 million deaths considered to be excess deaths.
Although they only make up about 13.8% of the overall population in the U.S., Black people made up approximately 51.4% of these excess deaths. Amongst those that were younger than 25 years old, Black youth were found to pass away the most, making up about 9,000 of those that passed away from excess death in this age range. Approximately 542,000 years of potential life were lost.
No life was lost amongst white and Asian people in this specific age group.
“If you look through decades of our history here in the United States, sadly, we see these racial disparities in chronic diseases and mortality and hospitalization playing out,” said an author of the study and assistant professor of medicine at UCLA, Utibe Essien, per The Washington Post.
Research has previously found that Black Americans were disproportionately affected by the pandemic. According to the National Library of Medicine, approximately 97.9 out of every 100,000 Black Americans passed away from the illness.
Although a variety of contributors impacted this higher rate, researchers point to the number of testing centers, the efforts to contact trace, addressing needs such as food security and offering financial protection for those that aren’t insured as factors that have led to the higher mortality rates amongst Black Americans diagnosed with COVID-19.
The disproportionate effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on African Americans, Latinx Americans, and Native Americans is not unforeseen. Inequities in health, health care access, and quality of care are ingrained in our health care system, and they must be addressed now. #COVID19
— NEJM (@NEJM) July 31, 2020
Significant long-lasting disparities like living conditions and residential segregation, which could expose Black people to more pollution and increase rates of heart disease, were also found to be contributors.
“The racially disparate death rate and socioeconomic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the discriminatory enforcement of pandemic-related restrictions stand in stark contrast to the United States’ commitment to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination,” said researchers. “Perhaps this crisis will not only greatly affect the health of our most vulnerable community members but also focus public attention on their rights and safety—or lack thereof. Disparate COVID-19 mortality rates among the African American population reflect longstanding inequalities rooted in systemic and pervasive problems in the United States (for example, racism and the inadequacy of the country’s health care system).”
