Health Injustice

In spite of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re now seeing large protests daily across the United States, and indeed in many places across the world, sparked by the unfortunate death of George Floyd by policeman in Minneapolis. The Black Lives Matter movement tries to address how blacks are unfairly treated, particularly by police.

This is a complex issue that dates back to when slavery was legal in the United States. I’ll leave the political and legal issues to others to discuss and will focus on health issues.

In the US the life expectancy for blacks is roughly 3 1/2 years less than for non-Hispanic whites as of 2014 according to the CDC. Why is that? It’s largely because they have more chronic medical problems, such as hypertension, diabetes, asthma, emphysema, obesity, and kidney disease. Why is that? Mostly because on average they are poorer, which leads to a worse diet, housing, working conditions, and access to health care. Why are they poorer? In part from racial injustice.

Even when blacks have access to good health care, they may be less likely to take their medications due to social norms, including distrust of the health care system.

With COVID-19 we’ve seen that black and some other minorities are at higher risk of getting infected, and are at greater risk of dying. So while participating in Black Lives Matters protests, they may be statistically at a higher risk of dying than from being killed due to racial injustice. Of course protests often carry risk, and for some it may be worth dying for. But do consider the risk of spreading it to others who may not want to die over it, and take reasonable precautions, particularly wearing a face mask, frequent hand washing, and maintaining social distancing as much as possible.