‘We need help’: Coronavirus ‘devastating’ black cities in outstate Michigan
One month since Michigan’s first case of coronavirus, the pandemic is taking a far heavier toll on African American communities statewide, from metro Detroit to Ypsilanti and Flint to Lansing. An analysis of available public health data shows the disproportionate impact on African Americans has spread from southeast Michigan – a national hotspot for COVID-19 – to outstate. While data are limited, current statewide totals show 40% of Michigan’s nearly 1,000 coronavirus deaths are black. But the toll is likely higher since race is listed as “unknown” on 25% of all deaths; 14% of the state population is African American. Dr. M. Roy Wilson, an ophthalmologist and president of Wayne State University who worked on strategic planning on minority health and health disparities at the National Institutes for Health, said poverty and lower levels of education have left more minorities exposed to the virus through jobs that can’t be done from home. African Americans also are more likely to have a harder time with the virus because of underlying health conditions, Wilson said, noting that those underlying conditions create a quicker cadence from mobility to mortality. “During a pandemic, that cadence is going to be greatly accelerated and so whatever health care and health issues existed in normal times, whether it was on the lack of access to health care because of insurance or high prevalence of comorbid disease, all of that is going to be greatly magnified.”