As cities and states begin reporting COVID-19 data based on race, there appears to be an over-representation of victims who are black. WGBH's Under The Radar host Callie Crossley told Boston Public Radio on Friday this is likely due to longstanding issues of inequalities, which affect not only the health of people of color, but also their ability to accumulate wealth. They're also disproportionately losing their jobs during the pandemic.
According to a new Pew Research Center report, 49 percent of Hispanics say they or someone in their household has taken a pay cut, lost a job, or both. A new Morning Consult poll shows that nearly 20 percent of African-Americans say someone in their household has lost work.
Crossley noted communities of color have historically been slow to recover in times of economic hardship, like the Great Depression, the flu pandemic of 1918, and the most recent recession in 2008.
"Those communities were impacted then, they were very slow to recover," she said. "And in fact, in regard to the 2008 recession, communities of color are just now starting to come out of that. And now, here we go."
