BBC: “Coronavirus wreaks havoc on African American communities”

[bluefete]

Time to change the narrative.

These Europeans and Americans stink too bad. I was waiting to see when this would come out.

Too many caucasians are suffering and dying from C-19, so it is time to drag out the "data" to show that is not so. And people will lap that up like so.

In time, it will read like ALL the other so-called sickness studies from the USA that : "African Americans are 10 times more likely to get C-19 and die."

Look at the people demanding the "data". Lawyers and doctors. I have seen it time and time again in the USA.

Demands for racial, demographic data on coronavirus grows amidst evidence black people harder hit
Michael Gartland
By MICHAEL GARTLAND
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
APR 06, 2020 | 4:59 PM



A man wears a double mask as he walks in Times Square.(Kena Betancur/Getty Images)

Early evidence is showing coronavirus is hitting African-Americans throughout the United States particularly hard — but government health departments aren’t releasing enough data to fully understand the demographic impact of the disease, a group of lawyers and doctors said Monday.

“We believe that this data is critical in the fight against this pandemic,” said Kristen Clarke, president of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, during a teleconference with doctors, lawyers and reporters. “The public deserves transparency in order to fully understand the impact of this pandemic and its disproportionate affect on certain African-American communities.”

Clarke said her group has issued a letter to the federal Department of Health and Human Services and a freedom of information request to the Centers for Disease Control demanding the release of demographic data on the number of people who have tested positive with and died from COVID-19.

She suggested the next step could be legal action based on provisions laid out in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Affordable Care Act.

The evidence of coronavirus disproportionately affected African-Americans is both anecdotal and statistical, according to Clarke.

Data from Illinois shows that while African-Americans make up 14.6% of the state’s population, 29.4% of confirmed COVID-19 cases and 41% of deaths due to the disease in the state are among African-Americans.

“I have seen in my waiting rooms and my exam rooms mostly black and brown patients who are essential workers and service workers who can’t afford to stay home,” said Dr. Uche Blackstock, who works in Central Brooklyn. “These are the ones I see presenting to the clinic with COVID-19 symptoms.”

Coronavirus in New York: How the state has been changed by the outbreak
The demographic data out of New York City and the state so far has been mostly anecdotal, but Mayor de Blasio said Sunday that there is “a striking overlap of where this virus is doing the most damage and where we’ve had historic health care disparities.”

“I think we’re going to be able to do more and more with every passing week,” he said at the time when asked about releasing more detailed data.

https://www.nydailynews.com/coronavirus ... story.html


Now, these doctors below here still believe that Africa is the experimental bastard of the world. But we won't get into that now.

NEWS/AFRICA
Racism row as French doctors suggest virus vaccine test in Africa
Two doctors spark criticism for discussing in a TV show the idea of testing a vaccine for the coronavirus in Africa.

by Rebecca Rosman
4 Apr 2020


Africa is currently the continent least affected by COVID-19, with nearly 7,500 cases and more than 320 deaths [File: Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP]

Two French doctors have been accused of racism for suggesting that a potential vaccine for coronavirus should first be tested on people in Africa.

The comments were made on the French television channel, LCI, during a discussion on Wednesday about COVID-19 trials set to be launched in Europe and Australia to see if the BCG tuberculosis vaccine could be used to treat the virus.


Tracking Africa's coronavirus cases
"It may be provocative. Should we not do this study in Africa where there are no masks, no treatment or intensive care, a little bit like it's been done for certain AIDS studies, where among prostitutes, we try things, because we know that they are highly exposed and don't protect themselves?" said Jean-Paul Mira, head of the intensive care unit at the Cochin Hospital in Paris.

Camille Locht, research director at France's national health institute, Inserm, agreed: "You are right. And by the way, we are thinking of in parallel about a study in Africa using this same approach."



Didier Drogba
✔
@didierdrogba
It is totally inconceivable we keep on cautioning this.
Africa isn’t a testing lab.
I would like to vividly denounce those demeaning, false and most of all deeply racists words.

Helps us save Africa with the current ongoing Covid 19 and flatten the curve.



It did not take long for the backlash to begin on social media.

"Africa isn't a testing lab," Ivorian professional football player Didier Drogba, who used to play for Chelsea, wrote on Twitter. "I would like to vividly denounce those demeaning, false and most of all deeply racist words."

Olivier Faure, of France's Socialist Party, said the marks were hardly a provocation. "It's not provocation, it's just racism," he wrote on Twitter. "Africa is not the laboratory of Europe. Africans are not rats!"

The anti-racism group SOS Racisme called on France's media regulator, the Conseil Supérieur de L’Audiovisuel (CSA), to formally condemn the remarks.

The group issued a statement saying, "No, Africans aren't guinea pigs", adding that comparison with AIDS and prostitutes was "problematic" and "unwelcome".

The organisation said the CSA had not responded to their complaint.

"It's scandalous to see that not a single regulatory authority has come out to publicly denounce these statements," Amar Thioune, a member of SOS Racisme, told Al Jazeera.

Meanwhile, Le Club des avocats au Maroc, a Moroccan lawyers' collective, said it was suing Jean-Paul Mira for racial defamation.

'Distorted video'
On Twitter, Inserm, Locht's employer, posted a statement accompanied by the hashtag #FakeNews, writing that the remarks were taken out of context.

"A distorted video, taken from an interview on LCI with one of our researchers about a study on the potential use of the BCG vaccine against COVID-19, is now the subject of erroneous interpretation," the statement said.

It added that Africa "shouldn't be forgotten or excluded from this research because the pandemic is global".

Mira later apologised in a statement published by his employer.

"I want to present all my apologies to those who were hurt, shocked and felt insulted by the remarks that I clumsily expressed on LCI this week," he said.

In an interview with the Huffington Post, Mira further clarified: "Africa could be even more exposed to serious forms of harm because there will be so few masks and little confinement because of societal structure."

"It seemed interesting to me that in addition to France and Australia, an African country could participate in this study which I had never heard of before hearing about it on the show," he added.

Africa is currently the continent least affected by COVID-19, with nearly 7,500 cases and about 320 deaths, though there are fears that the number of undetected cases is low due to a lack of testing.

Experts warn that poor health systems in many African countries could lead to a disaster in the event of a severe coronavirus outbreak.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/04/ ... 04466.html

[bluefete]

So the BBC jumped on the bandwagon early: Saw on ticker tape early this morning:

"Corona virus wreaks havoc on African American communities."

I told you these Europeans and Americans stink too bad with their propaganda.

They must change the narrative because too many of "them" are dying. That was not supposed to happen.

[Duane 3NE 2NR]

So the BBC jumped on the bandwagon early: Saw on ticker tape early this morning:

"Corona virus wreaks havoc on African American communities."

I told you these Europeans and Americans stink too bad with their propaganda.

They must change the narrative because too many of "them" are dying. That was not supposed to happen.

Italy took the biggest hit so far

[adnj]

Time to change the narrative.

These Europeans and Americans stink too bad. I was waiting to see when this would come out.

Data from Illinois shows that while African-Americans make up 14.6% of the state’s population, 29.4% of confirmed COVID-19 cases and 41% of deaths due to the disease in the state are among African-Americans.

“I have seen in my waiting rooms and my exam rooms mostly black and brown patients who are essential workers and service workers who can’t afford to stay home,” said Dr. Uche Blackstock, who works in Central Brooklyn. “These are the ones I see presenting to the clinic with COVID-19 symptoms.”

The Covid-19 hot spot in the state of New York is New York City. The hot spot in Illinois is Chicago.

NYC is about 25% African American.
Chicago is about 30% African American.

Nearly 80% of the population of rural America is white.
Nearly 70% of Native Americans and Indigenous Alaskans live on or near their tribal reservations.

With Covid-19 infections spreading from city centers to less populated areas of the United States, it is reasonable to expect that the shortage of hospital facilities and personnel of rural America will then disproportionately affect whites and Indigenous Americans.

Disproportionate affects of Covid-19 is simply a consequence of the current locations infected and not necessarily anything that reasonably correlates to race, ethnicity or social status.

[shake d livin wake d dead]

So the BBC jumped on the bandwagon early: Saw on ticker tape early this morning:

"Corona virus wreaks havoc on African American communities."

I told you these Europeans and Americans stink too bad with their propaganda.

They must change the narrative because too many of "them" are dying. That was not supposed to happen.

Forget BBC and CNN....watch Aljazeera(unbiased)

[adnj]

So the BBC jumped on the bandwagon early: Saw on ticker tape early this morning:

"Corona virus wreaks havoc on African American communities."

I told you these Europeans and Americans stink too bad with their propaganda.

They must change the narrative because too many of "them" are dying. That was not supposed to happen.

Forget BBC and CNN....watch Aljazeera(unbiased)

Assuming that you were not simply being sarcastic:

There are multiple ways for media to be biased though some outlets are more transparent than others regarding their self-interests. Most media consumers are also biased but tend not to understand why.

With Al Jazeera Media Network owned by the government of Qatar, it may be difficult to believe that it lacks bias.

-------------

Key Points

Political bias has been a feature of the mass media since its birth following the invention of the printing press. Historians have found that publishers often served the interests of powerful social groups.

Like newspapers, the broadcast media—radio and television—have been used as a mechanism for propaganda from their earliest days, a tendency made more pronounced by the initial ownership of the broadcast spectrum by national governments.

The most commonly discussed forms of bias occur when the media support or attack a particular political party, candidate, or ideology; however, other common forms of bias exist, including advertising bias, corporate bias, mainstream bias, sensationalism, and concision bias.

A technique used to avoid bias is the round table, an adversarial format in which representatives of opposing views comment on an issue. This approach theoretically allows diverse views to appear in the media.

Another technique used to avoid bias is disclosure of affiliations that may be considered a possible conflict of interest. This is especially apparent when a news organization is reporting a story with some relevancy to the news organization itself or to its ownership individuals or conglomerate.

[URL]https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-politicalscience/chapter/media-bias/
[/URL]

[shake d livin wake d dead]

Tbh, all are biased to some point...Aljazeera doh show it as much as the rest

[Dave]

The informal press is credible in both local and foreign scenes for clearing up what always seems biased to one group. This will always be a problem almost anywhere you live.

[bluefete]

A lot less biased than BBC and CNN. But that is for thinking people like yourself. I saw TV6 run the same ticker tape this morning.

So the BBC jumped on the bandwagon early: Saw on ticker tape early this morning:

"Corona virus wreaks havoc on African American communities."

I told you these Europeans and Americans stink too bad with their propaganda.

They must change the narrative because too many of "them" are dying. That was not supposed to happen.

Forget BBC and CNN....watch Aljazeera(unbiased)

[bluefete]

Great point. But that is not how it is put across in the American media.

It is all about showing that one group is superior to another.

Time to change the narrative.

These Europeans and Americans stink too bad. I was waiting to see when this would come out.

Data from Illinois shows that while African-Americans make up 14.6% of the state’s population, 29.4% of confirmed COVID-19 cases and 41% of deaths due to the disease in the state are among African-Americans.

“I have seen in my waiting rooms and my exam rooms mostly black and brown patients who are essential workers and service workers who can’t afford to stay home,” said Dr. Uche Blackstock, who works in Central Brooklyn. “These are the ones I see presenting to the clinic with COVID-19 symptoms.”

The Covid-19 hot spot in the state of New York is New York City. The hot spot in Illinois is Chicago.

NYC is about 25% African American.
Chicago is about 30% African American.

Nearly 80% of the population of rural America is white.
Nearly 70% of Native Americans and Indigenous Alaskans live on or near their tribal reservations.

With Covid-19 infections spreading from city centers to less populated areas of the United States, it is reasonable to expect that the shortage of hospital facilities and personnel of rural America will then disproportionately affect whites and Indigenous Americans.

Disproportionate affects of Covid-19 is simply a consequence of the current locations infected and not necessarily anything that reasonably correlates to race, ethnicity or social status.

[bluefete]

This will soon morph into:

"New research shows that African American males are 10 times more likely to get Covid-19 and die."

Look carefully at the image they used for the article. That image was carefully chosen to fit the coming narrative.

But there was no mention of race AT ALL in the story.

Wait for it.

Interesting information though on how men and women are affected by C-19.

CDC: Coronavirus is more prevalent in young boys than girls
Abby Haglage
Yahoo LifestyleApril 6, 2020, 4:13 PM GMT-4


A new study from the CDC has found a higher prevalence of COVID-19 cases among young boys than girls. Here, two children wear protective masks while walking in Brooklyn. (Photo: Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)


For weeks, infectious disease experts have been investigating why the coronavirus is proving particularly devastating to males, with early theories from China suggesting that higher rates of smoking among men may be to blame. But a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is suggesting it may have more to do with biology — specifically, genetics — than lifestyle.

The research, released on Monday in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, found a higher prevalence of COVID-19 in males across every pediatric age group — including infants. Fifty-seven percent of the more than 2,572 pediatric cases of COVID-19 studied (out of 149,750 cases overall) were found in males, ranging in age from newborns to 18.

To be clear, the research did not suggest that parents should now be concerned about their male children — or female children — getting seriously ill from COVID-19. The risk for children remains very low.

Most of the children reported symptoms of cough or fever, but only a small fraction (five percent) were hospitalized, bolstering reports that kids often develop a mild case of the virus. Those hospitalized were far more likely to report underlying health conditions than those who weren’t, including asthma, chronic lung disease and cardiovascular disease. Only 0.1 percent of the children infected died.

The median age of the more than 2,500 children with COVID-19 was 11, with over a third of cases involving teens between the ages of 15 and 17. But the most striking statistic for the researchers was that 57 percent of cases occurred among males — an even higher number than the adult group, in which 53 percent of the cases involved males. The researchers conclude that the higher rate of boys testing positive in every pediatric age group “suggests that biologic factors might play a role in any differences in COVID-19 susceptibility by sex.”

So what exactly may be driving the higher incidence in young boys, and should parents take this as a concern? Gregory A. Poland, MD, an infectious diseases expert and head of the Mayo Clinic's Vaccine Research Group, tells Yahoo Lifestyle that the study is no reason to panic, and shouldn’t be taken as a roadmap for parents with boys. Instead, Poland helps unpack what the new research can teach us.

Females may have a “sex advantage” over men in their immune response
Poland says the concept that females are less susceptible to disease is a “generalizable phenomenon beyond just infectious diseases” (such as COVID-19). “In fact, women also tolerate starvation and dehydration and survive longer than men do in austere environments,” Poland tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “So there does appear to be a sex advantage on the side of females that males don't have,” meaning a better immune response.

Hormones are unlikely to be the driving factor
Although the gender disparity may lead to theories about hormones, Poland says studies like this one are the reason researchers don’t consider hormones to be the source. “These are children who are absent the kind of hormonal levels or differences that we would see post-pubertal,” Poland says, adding that the disparity in infection is one seen in post-menopausal women, too. “That doesn't mean there couldn't be some still fine hormonal differences. But it leads to the idea that while hormones are important, it's again just one factor in this complex web that still needs to be teased apart.”

The higher prevalence in COVID-19 in boys may involve genetics
It’s still unclear to experts exactly why women respond better to certain diseases and harsh environments, but Poland says that genes may inform the answer. “We don't fundamentally understand this... but what we do know is that females — depending on the virus — will tend to activate or suppress different genes than males do when their cells are exposed to these viruses,” says Poland. “So we think a strong driver of this is going to be just genetic, not just hormonal.”

Some hypothesize that this may be linked to evolution of the genders
There is no evidence that females may be better equipped to fight disease due to evolution, but Poland says the idea has been floated. “We don't have any evidence but people always postulate ... the idea has been in general: ‘Is it this way for the primary reason of propagation of the species?’” he says. “You need women to have children. You can have a lot of children with a few men, but you can only have them one by one with women.”

An immunologist at the Heinrich Pette Institute in Hamburg, Germany, Marcus Atlfeld, raised another theory in a Scientific American piece from 2016 suggesting that “women might have evolved a particularly fast and strong immune response to protect developing fetuses and newborn babies.” Poland says that, in the absence of evidence, it may not be possible to form a conclusion.

Researchers have found a similar disparity with vaccines
Poland says males facing disease at higher rates than women is something currently being studied through the lens of vaccines. “When you give males versus females of any age a vaccine, females almost always respond better than males,” Poland says. He says that it shows females, even when faced with a small viral load of an inactivated disease, are often able to respond better than males — something seen with vaccines against smallpox, measles and influenza.

Females’ “supercharged immune system” has a downside
Women responding more efficiently to disease may be beneficial in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic, but Poland says it has a negative side, too — a higher likelihood that the immune system will overreact. “This supercharged immune system has a negative side to it,” says Poland. “And that is women have higher rates of autoimmune diseases — diseases where their own immune system attacks their own body.” (According to the National Institutes of Health, roughly eight percent of the population has an autoimmune disease; 78 percent of them are women).

It could also be true that young girls simply aren’t showing symptoms
Like the authors of the CDC study, who note many limitations of the research, Poland says the study doesn’t necessarily mean that more young boys are getting the virus. Instead, it could be showing that they do not have the same “quality” of immune response that girls do. “There could be a lot of girls out there who had it but had zero symptoms,” says Poland. “So she may not even go and be tested to know that she has COVID-19. The boy is more likely to have symptoms [and] that may drive testing.”

Parents should not panic, nor consider females immune from COVID-19
For that reason and many others, Poland says the new research should not be a reason for parents of boys to panic, nor for parents of girls to consider them immune. “I would not want this to give false reassurance to a parent because yes, there were girls that got sick,” Poland tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “There were girls that had severe illness. So I would put it in the category of, that's interesting. More research needs to be done. But for me as a parent, I put whatever appropriate layers of protection around my children, regardless of their gender.”

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/cdc-cor ... 51491.html

[Dizzy28]

^ Your jimmies get rustled for some weird stuff!!

[bluefete]

No, my friend. It may look weird to you but when you have studied and lived it academically, you will have a totally different perspective.

I am not on any race thing in T&T but when I see the USA using the medical sector to drive home a specific agenda relating to one group of people, then yes, "my jimmies" do get rustled.

Do not forget that President Bill Clinton apologized for how the US government treated African American males by injecting them with the syphillis virus in the 1930's/1940's. That was used as part of a study to show that African American males are more likely ... (well you know the rest by now).

You will see the same thing happen for Covid-19!

^ Your jimmies get rustled for some weird stuff!!

[adnj]

Great point. But that is not how it is put across in the American media.

It is all about showing that one group is superior to another.

Time to change the narrative.

These Europeans and Americans stink too bad. I was waiting to see when this would come out.

Data from Illinois shows that while African-Americans make up 14.6% of the state’s population, 29.4% of confirmed COVID-19 cases and 41% of deaths due to the disease in the state are among African-Americans.

“I have seen in my waiting rooms and my exam rooms mostly black and brown patients who are essential workers and service workers who can’t afford to stay home,” said Dr. Uche Blackstock, who works in Central Brooklyn. “These are the ones I see presenting to the clinic with COVID-19 symptoms.”

The Covid-19 hot spot in the state of New York is New York City. The hot spot in Illinois is Chicago.

NYC is about 25% African American.
Chicago is about 30% African American.

Nearly 80% of the population of rural America is white.
Nearly 70% of Native Americans and Indigenous Alaskans live on or near their tribal reservations.

With Covid-19 infections spreading from city centers to less populated areas of the United States, it is reasonable to expect that the shortage of hospital facilities and personnel of rural America will then disproportionately affect whites and Indigenous Americans.

Disproportionate affects of Covid-19 is simply a consequence of the current locations infected and not necessarily anything that reasonably correlates to race, ethnicity or social status.

You will also find that the prevalence of hypertension, heart disease and diabetes is higher in African American communities - key factors for mortality when looking at Covid-19 deaths.

Higher unemployment, higher underlying health issues, higher population of uninsured, and higher population percentage living in poverty for African Americans. And that data comes from reading US Census demographics.

Perhaps indicating a slightly superior ability for an African American to stay alive when conditions indicate otherwise.

[bluefete]

BIG discussion on CNN now about African Americans being more susceptible to C-19.

The narrative has been turned over and everyone has been sent in a totally different direction.

I told you this was coming.

Nasty American media and system.

One of the earliest questions being asked by the European and American media was : Why is the rate of C-19 not so prevalent in Africa?

In other words, why are so many Europeans dying from this disease and not Africans.

Well, now comes the great spin.

[pugboy]

was just a matter of time
them stations are always polarized with race and politics,
this covid thing had them off track for a while but the true colours must come back to fore

BIG discussion on CNN now about African Americans being more susceptible to C-19.

The narrative has been turned over and everyone has been sent in a totally different direction.

I told you this was coming.

Nasty American media and system.

One of the earliest questions being asked by the European and American media was : Why is the rate of C-19 not so prevalent in Africa?

In other words, why are so many Europeans dying from this disease and not Africans.

Well, now comes the great spin.

[bluefete]

So you are telling me that African Americans are genetically INFERIOR to everyone else.

Why is it that for EVERY disease known to man, African Americans are more susceptible? EVERY SINGLE ONE with the possible exception of skin cancer. Go do your research and come back to me.

Great point. But that is not how it is put across in the American media.

It is all about showing that one group is superior to another.

Time to change the narrative.

These Europeans and Americans stink too bad. I was waiting to see when this would come out.

Data from Illinois shows that while African-Americans make up 14.6% of the state’s population, 29.4% of confirmed COVID-19 cases and 41% of deaths due to the disease in the state are among African-Americans.

“I have seen in my waiting rooms and my exam rooms mostly black and brown patients who are essential workers and service workers who can’t afford to stay home,” said Dr. Uche Blackstock, who works in Central Brooklyn. “These are the ones I see presenting to the clinic with COVID-19 symptoms.”

The Covid-19 hot spot in the state of New York is New York City. The hot spot in Illinois is Chicago.

NYC is about 25% African American.
Chicago is about 30% African American.

Nearly 80% of the population of rural America is white.
Nearly 70% of Native Americans and Indigenous Alaskans live on or near their tribal reservations.

With Covid-19 infections spreading from city centers to less populated areas of the United States, it is reasonable to expect that the shortage of hospital facilities and personnel of rural America will then disproportionately affect whites and Indigenous Americans.

Disproportionate affects of Covid-19 is simply a consequence of the current locations infected and not necessarily anything that reasonably correlates to race, ethnicity or social status.

You will also find that the prevalence of hypertension, heart disease and diabetes is higher in African American communities - key factors for mortality when looking at Covid-19 deaths.

Higher unemployment, higher underlying health issues, higher population of uninsured, and higher population percentage living in poverty for African Americans. And that data comes from reading US Census demographics.

Perhaps indicating a slightly superior ability for an African American to stay alive when conditions indicate otherwise.

[paid_influencer]

CNN is a "news entertainment product" these days. About 10% news and 90% talking heads.

[bluefete]

So very true.

This will be on ALL the major US news stations this evening: ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN.

was just a matter of time
them stations are always polarized with race and politics,
this covid thing had them off track for a while but the true colours must come back to fore

BIG discussion on CNN now about African Americans being more susceptible to C-19.

The narrative has been turned over and everyone has been sent in a totally different direction.

I told you this was coming.

Nasty American media and system.

One of the earliest questions being asked by the European and American media was : Why is the rate of C-19 not so prevalent in Africa?

In other words, why are so many Europeans dying from this disease and not Africans.

Well, now comes the great spin.

[bluefete]

I can't watch them like before. Once I see the array of "talkers", it is time to switch.

CNN is a "news entertainment product" these days. About 10% news and 90% talking heads.

[bluefete]

The script has totally been flipped!

And the US media has gone full blast! They are blaming the Tuskegee experiments for the present day disparity.

Great spin. For those who thought i did not know what I was writing about before - read it for yourself.

African Americans seem to be disproportionately dying of the coronavirus in several states. A decades-old mistrust in government health services called the 'Tuskegee Effect' could be fueling the problem.
insider@insider.com (Bill Bostock)
Business InsiderApril 7, 2020, 11:25 AM UTC


Jerome Adams, the US surgeon general, at a March 22 news conference amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Yuri Gripas/Reuters

African American communities in some states appear to be suffering disproportionately during the coronavirus pandemic.

Though few places so far have publicly broken down the numbers by race, early data indicates that black people make up 39% of deaths in Chicago, 42% in Illinois as a whole, 40% in Michigan, and 81% in Wisconsin's Milwaukee County.

Black communities are on average poorer and in worse health than other groups, leaving them vulnerable to the virus, according to experts.

Studies have also found black people in the US to be less likely to seek medical help for ailments because of a mistrust of the American health system, which has been racist historically.

The Tuskegee experiment is the standout example. From 1932 to 1972, scientists experimented on 400 black men with syphilis without telling them. They did not allow them to have the cure when it was discovered in 1947 and continued to study them in many cases until they died.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

African American populations in the US so far appear to be some of the worst hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

Few places have publicly broken down the numbers by race, but places that have done so largely show black people to be dying of COVID-19 at outsize rates.

According to the latest figures, black people make up 39% (1,824) of deaths in Chicago, 42% (129) in Illinois as a whole, 40% (298) in Michigan, and 81% (22) in Wisconsin's Milwaukee County.

Though it's early, the most frequently suggested reason for this is that black, urban communities are some of the poorest and most disadvantaged in the US.

Many live with no access to medical care and above-average levels of debilitating illness and disease, rendering them more at risk of the coronavirus than other groups.

But African Americans may be suffering more than any other group because they are reluctant to go to the hospital in the first place because of a historical mistrust of the institutions, according to experts, even if they show symptoms of the coronavirus.

It's known as the "Tuskegee Effect," named after the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male.

From 1932 to 1972 the US Public Health Service studied 399 black men with syphilis, plus 201 more without it who were used as a control group.

Scientists wanted to know whether the disease affected black men differently than it did white men.


A 1950s photo released by the National Archives showing men included in the syphilis study posing for a photo in Tuskegee, Alabama.
National Archives via AP

The men weren't told they had syphilis — instead they were made to believe they were being studied for "bad blood." The men were treated without their consent. The men were placated with free meals, rides to the clinic, and burial insurance.

In 1947, penicillin was discovered as a cure for syphilis, but the PHS didn't give it to any of the men. Instead it continued to study them, many until their deaths, until the Associated Press exposed what was happening in 1972.

In 1974, the victims shared $10 million awarded in legal damages. The last living member of the study died on January 16, 2004.

The Tuskegee scandal is one of numerous US medical experiments conducted solely on African Americans, the legacy of which manifests as a distrust of US medical and healthcare systems.


A 1950s photo released by the National Archives showing a man included in a syphilis study in front of of a house in Tuskegee.
National Archive via AP

ome professionals argue that the legacy of the event is the most important factor in explaining why African Americans are more likely to eschew the US healthcare system than other groups.

"The Tuskegee Syphilis Study is frequently described as the singular reason behind African-American distrust of the institutions of medicine and public health," Dr. Vanessa Northington Gamble wrote in the American Journal of Public Health in November 1997.

A June 2006 scientific paper that studied perceptions of healthcare in several black communities in Chicago found a "disconcerting" trend in which those studied "said that they expected to be experimented on in the course of routine medical care."

"Many participants perceived events that others would see as routine or incompetent medical care as experimentation and attributed this expectation to their knowledge of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study," the paper said.

Dr. Jasmine Marcelin, a doctor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, told Business Insider that the study bred a distrust of the healthcare system and in turn contributed to racial inequality.

"The Tuskegee study demonstrated how conscious bias, in this case manifested in the form of racism, led to the unethical treatment of black men that continues to have long-lasting effects on health equity and justice in today's society," Marcelin said.

Another, more recent medical zeitgeist that experts say has contributed to an African American mistrust of US healthcare services is the 1970 sickle-cell testing debate.

From 1971 to 1972, 12 US states passed laws saying sickle-cell testing should be conducted mainly on African Americans.

Lawmakers argued this was because black people experienced sickle-cell disease at higher rates than other groups, but many black communities said the laws were racist and argued they were being used as guinea pigs.

Similarly, the case of Henrietta Lacks is a widely touted example of how black people have been mistreated by the US medical community.

In 1951, and without her consent, doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital secretly took cervical-cancer cells from Lacks, then 31, who had gone to the hospital. They subsequently used them in research that has led to substantial advances in the field. She was never given any compensation and died in 1951.

"I've just been conditioned not to trust," Rahmell Peebles, a gym worker in New York City who is black, told the Associated Press this week.

"If we got to a place where the government says, 'OK, now it's time to take a vaccine,' then I'm definitely going to be skeptical of their intentions."

Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and four other members of Congress are lobbying the Trump administration to include data based on race in national coronavirus reporting.

"Although COVID-19 does not discriminate along racial or ethnic lines, existing racial disparities and inequities in health outcomes and health care access may mean that the nation's response to preventing and mitigating its harms will not be felt equally in every community," a March 27 letter to US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said.

Pressley later told the Associated Press: "We are right to be paranoid and to ask tough questions. History has shown us, when we do not ... the consequences are grave, and in fact life and death."

"A pandemic just magnifies the disparities in healthcare that many communities of color face," Dr. Summer Johnson McGee, the dean of the School of Health Sciences at the University of New Haven, told Reuters.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/african-amer ... 57019.html
https://www.businessinsider.com/tuskege ... ely-2020-4

[Kewell35]

Tbh, all are biased to some point...Aljazeera doh show it as much as the rest

People will doubt you but Al Jazeera reminds of what the old news channels like CNN used to be like....more educational than blatant propaganda and spin. There isn't as much bias.

[Gladiator]

BIG discussion on CNN now about African Americans being more susceptible to C-19.

The narrative has been turned over and everyone has been sent in a totally different direction.

I told you this was coming.

Nasty American media and system.

One of the earliest questions being asked by the European and American media was : Why is the rate of C-19 not so prevalent in Africa?

In other words, why are so many Europeans dying from this disease and not Africans.

Well, now comes the great spin.

Black, White, Brown, Yellow COVID licking up all ah we same way.... so STFU and re-focus on the real issues we facing.

[bluefete]

^^^ So you come in to post exactly what I have been trying to say but you seemed to have missed the point totally.

[zoom rader]

All yuh doh be beating up on black ppl

[Blaze d Chalice]

First of all BBC is a known race-baiter.
You see it all the time with respect to England news.
They always always protect Muslim people in the UK when they committing their gang rape and pedophilia, and intentionally block user comments.
And then once in a while, out of the blue, they will drop a documentary or something showing the stupidity of these pests, leaving people in awe asking if the BBC was hijacked or went mad.

They did it for some anniversary of Salman Rushdie/Satanic verses.

Second of all, why they demanding this racial data?
When they got the stats saying that 12% of the population was responsible for over 50% of murders, what good did that do?

And third, contrary to what people think African/African American are not always the sole sufferers.
Cutter Biological (sub division of Bayer A.G.) withdrew some blood-clotting meds from the USA and Europe market after it was found to be HIV+
They then reintroduced new non-HIV ones to US/Europe market.
However they continued selling the contaminated ones to Latin America and Asian countries for about a whole year.

[pete]

I don't think you're understanding why they're saying they're more susceptible to COVID-19. What they're saying is as a result of lower earnings they have been on a more unhealthy diet, haven't had access to the same level of health care and as a result the virus is hitting them harder.

[Dizzy28]

How dare you Pete......how dare you!!!!

I don't think you're understanding why they're saying they're more susceptible to COVID-19. What they're saying is as a result of lower earnings they have been on a more unhealthy diet, haven't had access to the same level of health care and as a result the virus is hitting them harder.

[aaron17]

I didn't know china is the new black.

[Gladiator]

Blue...even before COVID, all the data showed that African Americans had a higher incidence of High Blood Pressure, Heart Disease, Diabetes, and prostate cancer. Its only logical that with COVID their community would be hit harder due to the pre-disposition.

Added to that they make very bad food choices.... look at how we black (indian and african) people get on for KFC and Doubles in Trinidad. When you go across to the US the African Americans and Caribbean - Americans all obese and always pack up in popeyes and mac donalds. I have cousins living over there that big like bisons.

^^^ So you come in to post exactly what I have been trying to say but you seemed to have missed the point totally.