The Black-White covid death rate flipped. Why?
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 20 October 2022
⏱️ 23 minutes
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Summary
Today on “Post Reports,” why White people in the U.S. are now more likely to die of covid than Black Americans.
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The imbalance in death rates among the nation’s racial and ethnic groups has been a defining part of the pandemic since the start. Early in the crisis, Black people died at higher rates than White people. But at the end of last year, the racial disparity in covid deaths vanished. Now, White people are more likely to die of covid than Black people. Reporter Akilah Johnson breaks down the complex, historic forces that brought us here and what this means for the future.
And, you may have heard the news about the resignation of United Kingdom Prime Minister Liz Truss. Truss lasted 44 days, making her the nation’s shortest-serving prime minister in 300 years. Our colleagues in London are bringing you the latest news of what could happen next - and you can find their reporting on washingtonpost.com.
We also had an episode earlier this month about the eroding faith in the new prime minister – it’s called “In Truss, the UK doesn’t trust.” It’s a great explainer of who she is and how her proposals weakened the country’s already struggling economy. You can listen to it here.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | At the start of the pandemic, there was a huge gap in the COVID death rate. |
| 0:08.2 | Black Americans were much more likely to die from the virus than white Americans. |
| 0:13.4 | Then late last year, post reporter Akila Johnson noticed a change. |
| 0:18.2 | That disparity flipped. |
| 0:20.6 | It wasn't just that, you know, black people had started to die at lesser rates in fewer |
| 0:26.9 | black people were dying. |
| 0:27.9 | It was because white people had begun to die at the same kind of unimaginable numbers |
| 0:32.0 | that black people had thus far. |
| 0:38.0 | As you did your reporting, I mean, first when you just saw this reversal of trends, was |
| 0:41.9 | it a big surprise to you? |
| 0:43.7 | Oh, it was an absolute surprise. |
| 0:46.1 | The question was, was it a thing for a moment like a blip in the numbers or was this |
| 0:50.8 | going to be a sustained trend? |
| 0:53.2 | And it turned out to be a sustained trend. |
| 0:57.2 | In the newsroom of the Washington Post, this is Post Reports. |
| 1:01.2 | I'm Ella Heizaddi. |
| 1:03.3 | It's Thursday, October 20th. |
| 1:06.1 | Today, why white people in the US are now more likely to die of COVID than black Americans? |
| 1:13.3 | That's according to new reporting from Akila Johnson who writes about health disparities |
| 1:17.9 | and post data analysts Dan Keating. |
| 1:20.9 | As Akila tells us, the reasons why more white people are dying of COVID are not easy or |
| 1:26.5 | obvious. |
... |
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