Subj : Re: COVID-19 demographics
To   : Mike Powell
From : Jeff Thiele
Date : Tue Oct 25 2022 21:36:18

On 25 Oct 2022, Mike Powell said the following...
 MP> > Perhaps, perhaps not. That would depend on whether black people with COV
 MP> > are more likely to experience more severe symptoms and/or die than white
 MP> > people with COVID-19, which is different from black people being less li
 MP> > to die of COVID-19 in general.
 MP> Did the article you posted mention anything about that?

Not that I'm aware of.

 MP> There are
 MP> diseases that do indeed affect persons of different ethnic and genealogic
 MP> backgrounds than do others.  Research into whether or not COVID was one
 MP> of them would be of interest and might help put things into context.

Indeed, it's been well-documented that due to a combination of genetics and
various stressors associated with generational poverty, black people infected
with COVID-19 were more likely to die than white people with COVID-19.

It would boil down to what exact effect the vaccines are having. Obviously,
they are both helping to prevent infection and also lessening symptoms if one
does become infected. If the drop in the rate of black people dying from
COVID-19 is primarily due to the vaccine's ability to lessen symptoms, then
their prioritization in the triage system may need to be reconsidered.
However, if the drop in the rate of black people dying from COVID=19 is
primarily due to the vaccine's ability to prevent infections, then it's quite
possible that a black person who does become infected is still more likely to
die than an infected white person; there are just fewer of them. In that
case, their prioritization in the triage system still makes sense.

 MP> OTOH, it might also encourage persons not of that heritage to be lax in
 MP> what they do when it comes to their own preventative care.  Catch-22.

It might, it might not. That's not really a consideration in presenting facts.

Jeff.

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