Subj : COVID-19 demographics
To   : All
From : Jeff Thiele
Date : Wed Oct 19 2022 22:10:22

From the Washington Post (https://tinyurl.com/bde4c2vw):

[Paragraphs containing facts are interspersed with personal stories in the
article, which is why there are so many ellipses. Also, the statistics do not
compare raw numbers of demographic groups, but compare incidents per 100,000
members of each demographic group.]

"The imbalance in death rates among the nation's racial and ethnic groups
has been a defining part of the pandemic since the start. To see the pattern,
The Washington Post analyzed every death during more than two years of the
pandemic. Early in the crisis, the differing covid threat was evident in
places such as Memphis and Fayette County. Deaths were concentrated in dense
urban areas, where Black people died at several times the rate of White
people.
[...]
"The nature of the virus makes the elderly and people with underlying health
conditions -- including hypertension, diabetes and obesity, all of which
beset Black people at higher rates and earlier in life than White people --
particularly vulnerable to severe illness and death." 
[...]
"Over time, the gap in deaths widened and narrowed but never disappeared --
until mid-October 2021, when the nation's pattern of covid mortality changed,
with the rate of death among White Americans sometimes eclipsing other
groups." 
[...] 
"After delta's peak in September 2021, the racial differences in covid
deaths started eroding. The Post analysis found that Black deaths declined,
while White deaths never eased, increasing slowly but steadily, until the
mortality gap flipped. From the end of October through the end of December,
White people died at a higher rate than Black people did, The Post found."
[...]
"That remained true except for a stretch in winter 2021-2022, when the
omicron variant rampaged. The Black death rate jumped above White people's
when the spike in cases and deaths overwhelmed providers in the Northeast,
resulting in a bottleneck of testing and treatment."

"When the surge subsided, the Black death rate once again dropped below the
White rate."
[...]
"The easy explanation is that it reflects the choices of Republicans not to be
vaccinated, but the reasons go deeper."
[...]
"Resilience gave way to fatigue. Holes left by rural hospital closures
deepened. Medical mistrust and misinformation raged. Skeptics touted debunked
alternatives over proven treatments and prevention. Mask use became a victim
of social stigma."

"Many Republicans decided they would rather roll the dice with their health
than follow public health guidance -- even when provided by President Donald
Trump, who was booed after saying he had been vaccinated and boosted."

Jeff.

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