PRENTISS SMITH
Caddo Parish Coroner Dr. Todd Toma recently reported that since the first death from Covid on March 24, deaths peaked at 111 in April. January of thi year was also a particularly deadly month with 83 deaths. Of the almost 600 deaths that have occurred over the past year, the overwhelming majority of them were older, and many of them had core morbidity issues, such as diabetes, obesity, asthma and other ailments. There have been 327 black citizens who have died and 245 whites who have died in Caddo Parish, which is a statistic that has been closely watched around the country.
The startling truth is that while Covid has killed one out of every 800 black Americans, even more shocking is the deadly efficiency with which it has killed young black men. A recent study using data through July found that black people ages 35 to 44 were dying at nine times the rate of white people the same age, although the gap has been narrowing slowly, which is a hopeful dynamic.
Over the years, black Americans have been reluctant to take vaccines, and that is understandable, given the history of past actions that used black Americans as human guinea pigs, specifically the Tuskegee Syphilis Study of 1932 that was found to be unethical and immoral. Many blacks have heard of the study and are skeptical of vaccinations. That was a different time in America, and it was wrong.
Today, black and Hispanic Americans are dying at rates two to three times the rate of whites, and there are many factors that contribute to that. Primarily, health care accessibility and health care outcomes have been inferior in black communities. Covid has been hard on communities of color, and although many black people are masked up and following the safety protocols, it is also important to take the vaccine.
There are now three effective and safe vaccines that are being administered: Moderna and Pfizer, which consist of two shots, and the newly released Johnson and Johnson vaccine that consists of one shot. Millions of Americans are getting the shots in their arms, but black Americans are lagging behind their white counterparts, and that is concerning for many of the medical practitioners and scientists. Blacks are dying disproportionately, but they are not getting the shots in the proportion that they should be.
Close to 600 people have died in Caddo Parish, and over 530,000 in the country at large. Those are difficult numbers to wrap your arms around in any situation, but it is even more difficult to deal with when you dig deeper into the numbers. Covid is an insidious killer, which can attack the body in so many ways, especially the pulmonary system.
Covid does not care what color you are, nor does it care about how much money you have. It is a killer, and because of historical health-care inequality, many blacks have been less able to get access to these lifesaving vaccines, and unfortunately, many blacks are just not getting the shot because they are fearful of the shot.
The truth is that black people should be at the head of the line trying to get these shots, because they are saving lives and making it possible for all of us to have hope that there is a light at the end of the Covid tunnel. As was said earlier, the Covid vaccines are safe and effective. They are saving lives. They are saving black lives, and that should convince black people who are reluctant to take the shot to get it. And that’s the way I see it. smithpren@aol.com
THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED IN THE March 12 ISSUE OF FOCUS SB - THE INQUISITOR.