Surgeon General Jerome Adams pointed to systemic racism as a reason for strong racial disparities in contracting the coronavirus.
Adams told Business Insider in an interview published Monday that viral outbreaks in minority communities were largely due to “social determinants of health,” which include factors such as the ability to work from home and having more people living in one household, among other lifestyle aspects. He also noted that “structural racism” plays a role.
“There are also factors that we don’t measure, and those include things like structural racism,” he said. “We have to acknowledge that these things are occurring and that they are occurring to people in many cases because of the color of their skin.”
Racial disparities in coronavirus rates have been a concern of local and federal officials, with studies showing there is a larger risk for black and Latino communities in being exposed to the virus. New federal data also shows black people were hospitalized with COVID-19 at a rate four times higher than white people, citing socioeconomic status as a main reason behind the gap.
Among racial and ethnic groups, black communities had the highest hospitalization rate, at 465 hospitalized per 100,000 people. Hispanic communities were second, with 258 hospitalizations per 100,000, followed by Asian populations with 187 per 100,000. Among white people, 123 have been hospitalized per every 100,000.
The new data also showed rural areas had lower cases compared with those who live in urban and suburban areas.
