The stats speak for themselves… Minorities in America have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic, from both economic and health standpoints. Black Americans are 1.9X more likely to die from COVID than white Americans, and 2.9X more likely to be hospitalized. For Hispanics and American Indians, the rates are even higher. In the first half of 2020, Black men suffered the largest decline in life expectancy, which dropped by three years. A few key factors help explain the higher risk:
- Essential work: Black workers are overrepresented in essential roles, like food service and public transportation, increasing the risk of infection.
- Other major factors: Crowded housing, inconsistent access to healthcare, and chronic health conditions that increase Covid complications. Also: a history of discrimination and mistreatment in healthcare has contributed to distrust in the medical system for many Black Americans.
On the financial side… The pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on Black business owners. Pre-pandemic, Black businesses were growing 2X as fast as overall businesses in the US. From February to April last year, the number of active US business owners dropped a record 22%. Black businesses owners took the hardest hit, dropping 41% in those three months.
Why?... Geography and access to capital are key factors. Black-owned businesses are heavily concentrated in Covid hotspots, and entered the pandemic with weaker financials and less access to capital. The financial health of businesses and individuals connects back to the massive wealth gap: the typical white family has 8X the wealth of the typical Black family.
Equitable vaccine access is key… to helping alleviate the impact on minority groups. But so far, the rollout hasn’t been proportional: of the people of known race who have been vaccinated, 64% have been white. Just 9% were Hispanic, 6% were Black, and 5% were Asian — and less than 2% were American Indian. Some positive efforts are underway to change this distribution: All 32 NFL teams have offered their stadiums as mass vaccine sites, many of which are close to large Black urban populations. Uber and Walgreens have teamed up to offer free rides to vax appointments for people in underserved communities. And last week, Lyft announced it’s doing the same with CVS.