Black people constitute nearly 13% of the U.S. population but made up 23% of all Covid-19 deaths as of June 3, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The rate of infection stood at 12,389 confirmed cases per 1 million black people as of Wednesday, versus 2,802 cases per 1 million white residents — or more than four times the infection rate of white people, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
The reasons why minorities tend to suffer from poorer health and deadlier Covid-19 outcomes are complex, and like many disparities affecting blacks in the U.S., are rooted in the American slave trade.
Public health officials say one of those disparities is the disproportionately high number of “co-morbidities,” or underlying health conditions that tend to hasten death in Covid-19 patients, suffered by black and Hispanic people.
African American adults are 60% more likely than white adults to have diabetes, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health.
