Black Americans face countless challenges to good health, and the stress of living with racism has real, physical effects. That has made COIVID-19 and the killing of George Floyd a brutal blow to Black people’s well-being.
In this June 5, 2020 photo provided by the Mountain Area Health Education Center, physicians, residents and staff from the facility in Asheville, N.C., take a knee to show support for renewed calls for racial justice after the police killing of George Floyd. Government statistics from late January through May 30 suggest an increase in U.S. deaths from chronic diseases compared with historical trends.
“We are exhausted and we are not OK,” said Dr. Patrice Harris, a psychiatrist who just ended her yearlong term as president of the American Medical Association. She was speaking not so much for herself as for her community. As a physician, Harris knows she has a certain privilege. But she also knows firsthand the weariness of Black lives in America.
For every patient who has called for an appointment, there are 10 others she hasn’t heard from in months. Living with chronic illness had already left her anxious and depressed — feelings that have multiplied with the pandemic, Floyd’s death and the unrest that has followed.Williams has started mental health televisits. They’ve helped.
Now there’s evidence that Blacks with fever and cough are less likely than whites to be referred for COVID-19 testing, said Dr. Malika Fair, a health equity director at the Association of American Medical Colleges.Dr. Heidi Knoll, who is white and one of Williams’ physicians, says a history of mistrust and mistreatment is part of what keeps many Black people from seeking medical care in ordinary times.
“People are amped up because of this pandemic,” she said. “Maybe he had to be that white lamb” — sacrificed so whites would pay attention.Terrence Nichols has recovered physically from a relatively mild case of COVID-19, diagnosed in March. But as a Black man in Chicago, knowing its impact in his community has left Nichols feeling fearful, vulnerable and angry over the president’s push to reopen.
“He’s ready to reopen because of the economy and rich people are losing money,” Nichols said of Trump. If the virus was disproportionately killing rich white people, ’’he would think twice,” said Nichols, 44.
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