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THREAD: We must address the language around the racial disparities we are seeing in COVID19 deaths. These are not differences, coincidences or "because Black people have higher rates of certain diseases." 1/14
It is because structural racism drives health inequities. 2/14
Let's turn to the Esenwa et al. article from 2018 that examined the association between the history of slavery and stroke mortality. Figure 1: County-level slave population density in the year 1860. 3/14
Figure 2: All-race stroke mortality for the years 2011 to 2013. The authors found a strong association between county-level slavery and current day stoke mortality particularly among Blacks (P<0.001). 4/14
Can't help but think of another similar map from @KFF --states that have yet to accept federal funds to offer health insurance to low income adults ... https://tinyurl.com/wclpglf 5/14
...Medicaid expansion, a policy @ASlavitt argues is one of the few silver bullets we have in health policy. https://newsatjama.jama.com/2019/06/20/jama-forum-is-medicaid-expansion-like-a-silver-bullet-for-improving-us-health-care/ 6/14
The coverage gap in states not expanding Medicaid disproportionately impacts poor uninsured
Black adults: https://www.issuelab.org/resources/21581/21581.pdf 7/14
Black adults: https://www.issuelab.org/resources/21581/21581.pdf 7/14
"Social injustice is the fabric on which such social gradients of health persist." https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/epub/10.1161/STROKEAHA.117.020169 8/14
Not convinced? Check out these life expectancy maps from @shwoolf and co. from @VCUSocHealth. https://societyhealth.vcu.edu/work/the-projects/mapping-life-expectancy.html 9/14
I used to live in Richmond, VA ( #RVA) where there is a 20- TWENTY- year difference in life expectancy between Gilpin Court (a predominately Black neighborhood) and Westover Hills. 10/14
This map almost mirrors the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) Richmond map from the 1930s which graded neighborhoods based on race. Source: https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/#loc=4/40.659/-104.228 11/14
Some additional resources from @shannonjoyMD2b: No, the coronavirus is not an “equalizer.” https://www.propublica.org/article/early-data-shows-african-americans-have-contracted-and-died-of-coronavirus-at-an-alarming-rate 12/14
Maps and data of the virus outbreak and deaths in Louisiana-- http://ldh.la.gov/coronavirus/
Data as of 12pm, 4/9/2020 (Beware the audio on this site!) 13/14
Data as of 12pm, 4/9/2020 (Beware the audio on this site!) 13/14
There are countless other studies and resources, but you don't need to listen to me. Here's a short list of incredible folks to follow: @LatimoreAmanda @povertyscholar @uche_blackstock @DrOniBee @mclemoremr @Arrianna_Planey 14/14
