Why Are More Black Americans Dying of COVID-19?

COVID-19 cases in the U.S. are climbing again, and data show that Black and Latinx Americans are contracting and dying of COVID-19 at higher rates than white Americans.

The reasons for are complex, including: people of color are more likely to be poor, work in industries that expose them to the virus, live in crowded spaces, and have chronic health conditions.

Then there’s race -- the discrimination and violence that people of color experience on a daily basis puts their health at risk, further exposing them to the coronavirus.

Against the backdrop of a nationwide reckoning over police brutality against people of color, Dora Hughes, a professor of health policy at George Washington University, talks about the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on Black and Latinx people, and what policymakers could do to address these racial inequities.