The coronavirus pandemic has shown from the beginning that it does not care about race, wealth, class or sexuality. Anyone can catch the virus, and anyone can die from it. Wealth affects an individuals ability to respond to the pandemic greatly, and due to the toxic wealth inequality in the united states, black individuals are dying at the most disproportionate rates. Chicago statistics show that of the 98 total deaths, 72% have been black despite only 30% of the city population being black.
An NBC article shows that African Americans are dying at a higher rate, but most states have not released demographic data to show the race of people who have tested positive for the virus. The concern is that this will create a huge gap between people who are wealthy and people who do not have money. People without money will likely suffer a lot more. The article discusses the important role that wealth plays in determining how at risk an individual is. An individuals wealth can provide a certain sense of protection in a situation like this. Being more wealthy allows an adequate response to a lost of a regular income or any expense expected from a pandemic. The unequal distribution of wealth in America with 1% of the population owning 42% of all wealth in the country drastically decreases the opportunity for minorities and low income communities to have the wealth needed to respond. With the key to combatting COVID-ID being to social distance, low income people of color are less likely to have a job that can be done remotely, forcing them to go to work and putting them at higher exposure to the virus. They then also do not have access to private testing or medical care if they do catch the virus. The discrepancies are heartbreaking, but I hope that when this is over the United States will take it as a lesson to see how important it is to focus more attention to closing the wealth gap.
Course Reference: Shapiro, T.M. (2017). "Toxic inequality." In Andersen, M. L., & Collins, P. H. (2019). Race, class, and gender: intersections and inequalities (pp 126-131). Boston, MA: Cengage.
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