Why Black People Are Likely To Die Of COVID-19 Four Times Faster Than White People

Black people in the UK are four times more likely to die from Covid-19 than white people and a number of other ethnic groups are also at an increased risk, according to new data released today Thursday 7th May 2020.

A report by the Office for National Statistics found black women are 4.3 times more likely to die with Covid-19 than white women, while black men are 4.2 more likely to die.

People of Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Indian, and mixed ethnicities also had a “statistically significant raised risk of death,” the report found.

The disparities are “partly a result of socio-economic disadvantage and other circumstances, but a remaining part of the difference has not yet been explained,” the study said.

Even after taking into account age, demographic factors and measures of self-reported health problems, black people were still almost twice as likely to die from Covid-19 than white people.

While the report was unable to clearly outline every factor behind the trend, its conclusions make clear the the pandemic — frequently referred to as a “great equalizer” — is anything but.

And the findings also chime with similar reports in the United States, where African Americans have died from Covid-19 at a disproportionately high rate.

In Chicago, 72% of people who died were black, officials said in April, despite African Americans only making up 30% of the city’s population.

In Louisiana, African Americans make up 32% of the population, but account for around 70% of deaths.

The UK has the highest coronavirus death toll in Europe, announcing on Wednesday that more than 30,000 people have died since the start of the outbreak.