Inside STAT: Covid-19 lays bare how racism fuels health disparities among Black people

DOCTORS, NURSES, AND MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS HAVE JOINED COUNTLESS OTHERS ACROSS THE COUNTRY TO PROTEST AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY AND THE KILLING OF GEORGE FLOYD. (MICHAEL B. THOMAS/GETTY IMAGES)

Even without the backdrop of the ongoing wave of protests in response to George Floyd's killing by police in Minneapolis, systemic racism was already front of mind for many in the medical community, especially those working to address health disparities. Disparities among Black people — seen in cancer, chronic pain, diabetes, depression, and other conditions — have been studied for decades with some improvements made, but many issues persist unchecked. The Covid-19 pandemic has only underscored these disparities, as Black Americans have been dying from the infection at more than twice the rate of white Americans. "What we’re seeing here is the direct result of racism,” Camara Phyllis Jones, an epidemiologist and recent president of the American Public Health Association, tells STAT's Meghana Keshavan. "That’s the thing that is slapping us in the face. Actually, it’s lashing us like whips." Read more here.