#medsoc #epitwitter #blacklivesmatter Been thinking about @DebUmberson 's paper "Black Deaths Matter" ( https://tinyurl.com/qvo44jz ) in 2017, which points out that the black community has always borne more exposure to death and loss earlier and more often. In the process... 1/

...social networks are shattered, Social capital is drained, traumas accumulated, stressors pile up, and life courses are inexorably being altered. In the process, future chances of a healthy and stable life are diminished. As COVID ravages communities across the country, 2/

and the data isn't published yet, but it seems that all fingers point to POC and especially poor black folks being particularly vulnerable to COVID due to living conditions, segregation, and preexisting conditions. See tweets by @jfeldman_epi and @usama_bilal , for instance. 3/

See: https://twitter.com/jfeldman_epi/status/1245562898707099648.

https://twitter.com/Hannah_WISN/status/1243480898743545856

https://twitter.com/WhitneyEpi/status/1245468945324392453

For more preliminary evidence. 4/

If that racialized trajectory continues, and I suspect it will, then we might see more than just the acute trauma of death and loss. Instead, the damage of COVID on already disadvantaged communities will trickle across generations as pillars of communities are cut down ...5/

... role models are lost, and neighborhoods are further destabilized. In the process, existing inequities will amplify in their scale, intensity of effect, and their long term ramifications for the people who experience them. 6/

...In the past, the oppression of slavery has been extended in the long term via segregation, incarceration,and a variety of other means to form an unbroken chain. The racialized distribution of #Covid_19 's suffering and the gov't's sluggish response may be yet another link. 7/

In that sense, I'm reminded of Katrina in 05. @NYGovCuomo says that COVID is an equalizing force that doesn't discriminate. But that's not quite right. #COVID_19 is a spark looking for fuel, and we've been building piles for brush for decades. And after, there will be ashes. 8/