COVID Takes A Disproportional Death Toll on African Americans
BALDWIN: From coast to coast this pandemic has disproportionately impacted communities of color. African-Americans for example are seeing a higher number of cases and a higher death rate than any other race. And new research may help explain this grim trend we are witnessing. Autopsies of ten African-American COVID victims revealed that their lungs were clogged with blood clots.The researchers behind the findings at LSU Health, New Orleans School of Medicine, suggested that genetic factors may be in play. So, CNN's Abby Phillip is with me now. And, Abby, so good to see you. I know you went to your hometown of Prince Georges County, Maryland which is for folks who don't know is majority African American. What did you find?</s>ABBY PHILLIP, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, one of the big questions is really what is the scope of this problem? And the data is pretty stunning. In more than half of the states and territories in this country there is a massive disparity between the African-American population and the number of COVID deaths that they're responsible for. The question is why. There are these health disparities but there are also -- are some other issues the experts I spoke to said. We're talking about access to healthy foods. Access to hospitals, and also the fact that many of the African-American people in this country are front line workers.</s>PHILLIP (voice-over): Terrance Burke was a doting father, a Navy veteran and a hard charging high school basketball coach.</s>ARNETHA BURKE, DAUGHTER OF TERRANCE BURKE: He was really big on family. He loved coaching.</s>PHILLIP: In March the Prince George's County, Maryland resident became one of the first people in the state to die from the coronavirus.</s>BURKE: It's just very surreal. I didn't really expect it to happen like -- my dad should be the example for the state of Maryland.</s>PHILLIP: Burke's death was a canary in the coal mine and for his community in the Washington D.C. suburbs and for the entire nation.</s>ANGELA ALSOBROOKS, PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY EXECUTIVE: Oh, my god. It was so terrifying.</s>PHILLIP: Just miles outside of the nation's capital, one of the wealthiest majority black counties in the nation has been ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic.</s>ALSOBROOKS: We heard what the aggravating factors were, we started saying, oh, my god, you know, that's us.</s>PHILLIP: In Prince George's County black residents like Burke have been contracting and dying from coronavirus at alarming rates.</s>STEPHEN B. THOMAS, MARYLAND CENTER FOR HEALTH EQUITY, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND: We have some of the highest per capita PhDs, college educated black folk in the nation, and it is not protecting us.</s>PHILLIP: And the data shows it's a trend playing out all over the country in urban, suburban, rural, wealthy and poor areas and in more than half of the country according to a recent study by the nonpartisan APM Research Lab. In Detroit, 65 percent of cases and more than 80 percent of people who have died of COVID are black. In Washington, D.C., black residents account for nearly 75 percent of coronavirus deaths. In New York, the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak, 26 percent of deaths have been among black residents, even though they are just 14 percent of the population. And in Maryland, black residents account for 42 percent of COVID deaths, but 29 percent of the population. Prince George's County Executive Angela Alsobrooks says decades of racism are having a devastating impact here and all over the country.</s>ALSOBROOKS: We also have had a really, really difficult time just trying to attract restaurants to come here, the grocers to come here. And it's not because we don't have the wealth and income. It infuriates me for people to say that people here are sicker because of our life choices.</s>PHILLIP: Coronavirus deaths are concentrated mostly among older Americans, and those with pre-existing conditions such as hypertension, diabetes and heart disease that are common among black Americans. But that doesn't explain all of the disparities.</s>THOMAS: Our workers are residents of senior living facilities. Who works in those facilities? Low paid workers who have now been designated essential.</s>PHILLIP: Maryland officials are moving to ramp up testing at sites like these, now testing asymptomatic residents to stop outbreaks before they start. Thomas says more help will undoubtedly be needed, including from the federal government.</s>THOMAS: We're going to have to save ourselves. We need a national commission on the colors of COVID-19. One that addresses all people of color.</s>PHILLIP: And the Prince George's County Executive Angela Alsobrooks also pointed out that the county has a higher median income than Washington, D.C. and yet they've had a lot of trouble over the years getting grocery store chains to want to come to the county and also to get additional hospital beds. That became a huge problem obviously during the coronavirus crisis, but there is some good news, the county will begin to start slowly and carefully reopening soon. The case numbers are going in the right direction heading down -- Brooke.</s>BALDWIN: Thank you for going to PG County and telling their story. Abby, thank you. I want to get to breaking news now. Remember the State Department watchdog who was fired by President Trump two weeks ago after he investigated Secretary of State Mike Pompeo? He was accused of leaking details to the press. We are now learning the Pentagon cleared him of that months ago. That's ahead.