Taylor, an internist, called those conditions — diabetes, high blood pressure, respiratory diseases — “a part of the community fabric” among black residents of South Los Angeles.
Of the 1,755 people who have died in Los Angeles County, 12.5% are black residents, even though they make up 8 percent of the population, according to the Department of Public Health’s dashboard.
For instance, in Inglewood, which has one of the largest black populations in Los Angeles County, the death rate from the virus is 34 per 100,000 residents, while in majority-white Glendale, just 14 miles away, it’s 18 deaths per 100,000, according to the county’s dashboard data.
Steven Wallace, who conducts research on race and aging at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, said black residents of Los Angeles County are more likely to be frontline workers, to live in multigenerational housing and to have poorer access to both coronavirus testing and health care than white residents.
Officials from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health declined to comment about the disparity of outcomes for black residents.
