Originally posted by the Voice of America.
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Pandemic Exposes Health Care Shortcomings for African Americans

Chris Simkins

   WASHINGTON - Sitting outside an urgent care medical center, Michelle
   Thomas feels sick. She traveled 30 minutes across town from her
   Washington, D.C., neighborhood to seek treatment for a persistent cough
   and fever. Both are common symptoms for COVID-19 in a city that has
   lost at least 400 residents to the pandemic.

   "There're no doctors' offices in my neighborhood. I really don't see a
   doctor regularly and wouldn't know what to do if I got the virus,"
   Thomas told VOA.

   The 73-year-old retired schoolteacher is like millions of African
   Americans who have long-struggled to access adequate health care. Now,
   her concerns are heightened.

   "I know my age and health problems put me at greater risk for serious
   illness from the virus," she said.

   Thomas's plight comes as COVID-19 has proved especially deadly for many
   minority communities in America. Nationwide, more than 20,000 African
   Americans have died from the coronavirus, according to the American
   Public Media (APM) Research Lab. Authors of the survey acknowledged the
   numbers were incomplete because some states have not reported data
   broken down by race and ethnicity.

   Even so, APM's data show the black mortality rate from COVID-19 is
   three times higher than that of white people. Researchers believe
   minorities are more at risk of catching the virus because they
   disproportionately hold jobs for which teleworking and staying at home
   is not an option.

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