Black people across America are facing significantly higher infection rates for COVID-19, and when they get sick, they’re seeing worse outcomes. The small amount of data available in Alabama seems to be pointing in a similar direction.
About 27 percent of Alabama’s nearly 5 million people are black, but nearly 37 percent of the state’s lab-confirmed cases of the virus are in black people, as of April 6. White people make up 68 percent of the state’s population, but less than 50 percent of the state’s confirmed patients.
Of the 39 confirmed deaths in the state as of Monday, 17 were black and 17 were white, even though more white people were sick than black people. Each race made up 43.6 percent of deaths.
Johnson: COVID-19’s disproportional impact on African Americans exposes Alabama’s longstanding neglect
Other states have seen similar, if not worse numbers than Alabama. In Louisiana, 70 percent of COVID-19 deaths were among black people as of Tuesday afternoon.
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In Illinois, a state where just 15 percent of the population is black, 43 percent of people who have died from the virus and 28 percent of those who tested positive are black. And the numbers are even worse in Chicago, where like Louisiana, 70 percent of virus deaths have been among black people.
Death numbers are still relatively low in Alabama, but growing. As of April 6, the last time demographic information was published by the Alabama Department of Public Health, 39 people were confirmed to have died of the virus.
As of Wednesday morning, the number of confirmed deaths in Alabama has climbed to 48, with another 17 deaths suspected but not yet confirmed.
And there is a problem with measuring the number of infections among Alabama’s black population - a lack of testing. Alabama’s majority black counties have seen a dearth in testing. Only one -- Montgomery, which is home to the state capital and one of the largest counties in the state -- had seen more than 100 tests performed by the Alabama Department of Public Health, as of April 7.
Some tests are being performed by private labs and hospitals, but that data hasn’t been made public, and many counties the Black Belt region, which runs across the south-central part of the state and is home to all of Alabama’s majority black counties, suffer from a lack of hospital access.
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The case characteristics published by ADPH also reiterate the danger COVID-19 poses to the older population, and to people with underlying health conditions. While the majority of cases in Alabama are among younger people - those between the ages of 19 and 64, the majority of deaths have been among people 65 and older.
Of the 39 confirmed deaths at the time, 56.4 percent had heart disease and 43.6 percent had diabetes.
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