₦airaland Forum

While the global outbreak of new coronavirus continues, large-scale demonstrations and protests have been taking place in the United States, France and other places in recent days. People concerned that protestors shouting one after another in protest may spread the virus, leading to a new wave of virus outbreaks.



At present, there are still waves of demonstrations in many cities across the United States to protest against the tragic death of an African American man, Freud, who died on May 25 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, after a white policeman put his knee on his neck for a few minutes.



Over the past five nights, the city of Minneapolis and nearby St. Paul, as well as cities across the United States, initially peaceful protests have turned into smashing, looting, arson and other violent riots. The governors of Minnesota and 11 other states had to use the National Guard to deal with the demonstrations.

@dom
We were talking about how everyone was sick in the last months of 2019 and early 2020. I wonder how many people had corona and didn’t even know. Literally all our kids on the tball team were sick. I got sick in November and had a cough for over a month.








https://twitter.com/dommbaddd/status/1244756853634093058

Our ongoing Color of Coronavirus project monitors how and where COVID-19 mortality is inequitably impacting certain communities—to guide policy and community responses to these disproportionate deaths. The coronavirus has claimed more than 240,000 American lives through Nov. 10, 2020—nearly 25,000 more than our last update four weeks ago. We have documented the race and ethnicity for 96% of the cumulative deaths in the United States.

Our latest update reveals that Black and Indigenous Americans continue to suffer the greatest loss of life—with both groups now experiencing a COVID-19 death toll exceeding 1 in 1,000 nationally.

We also adjust these mortality rates for differences in the age distribution of populations, a common and important tool that health researchers use to compare diseases that affect age groups differently. At the national level, this results in even larger documented mortality disparities—Black, Indigenous and Latino Americans all have a COVID-19 death rate of triple or more White Americans, who experience the lowest age-adjusted rates.

See our work cited in Forbes, CNN, NBC News, Vox, JAMA, Politico, Newsweek, Al Jazeera, the Washington Post, The Hill, The Guardian, the New York Times and numerous other outlets.

The APM Research Lab has independently compiled these death statistics. (Learn more about how.) The result is the most robust and up-to-date portrait of COVID-19 mortality by race available anywhere, with a lens on inequitable deaths. We are now presenting mortality data over time for all states—not just cumulatively—to help us monitor the virus’ changing impacts throughout fall and winter. We have been tracking these deaths for seven months now, revealing COVID-19’s growing toll on all Americans, but with the heaviest losses among Black, Indigenous and Latino Americans.

Black people make up a disproportionate share of the population in 22 percent of U.S. counties, and those localities account for more than half of coronavirus cases and nearly 60 percent of deaths, a national study by an AIDS research group found.

The study also found that socioeconomic factors such as employment status and access to health care were better predictors of infection and death rates than underlying health conditions.

Gregorio Millett, vice president of Amfar, the Foundation for Aids Research, said the findings suggest that black people will be more vulnerable to the pandemic as states begin to reopen businesses and public spaces.

“It’s clear that there’s a disproportionate impact of covid-19 diagnoses and deaths among African Americans,” Millett said, adding that the authors of the study released it early in the hope of influencing policy decisions about reopening businesses. “All of my colleagues fear that with these policies to open up communities, that the brunt of the covid-19 epidemic is not going to be borne equally on all communities, that we will likely see greater covid-19 deaths as well as cases in African American communities.”





Millett said researchers plan to track disproportionately black counties in four states — Georgia, Texas, Alabama and South Carolina — to see what effect loosening social distancing and sheltering requirements will have on covid-19 cases and deaths.

Researchers at Amfar and the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Georgia led the study team, which included investigators from Johns Hopkins, the University of Mississippi, Georgetown University and the nonprofit PATH.

The study adds to a growing body of data that has shown that black people have been infected and killed at disproportionate rates by the novel coronavirus. It also raises concern, as have other studies and analyses, about gaps in data collected and reported by county, state and federal officials about the race and ethnicity of virus sufferers, including testing, cases, hospitalizations and deaths.





The Amfar study, based on data collected April 13, focused on counties in which black people made up more than 13 percent of the population. Disproportionately black counties account for 22 percent of all U.S. counties but have been home to 52 percent of coronavirus cases and 58 percent of deaths from covid-19, the disease the virus causes.

[The coronavirus is infecting and killing black Americans at an alarmingly high rate]



























Black residents in D.C. are seeing the worst of the coronavirus. One NGO is trying to help.



















As the coronavirus disproportionately impacts black communities in Washington D.C., one local NGO is stepping up to provide testing and help. (Zoeann Murphy/The Washington Post)

Almost all disproportionately black counties have had at least one person diagnosed with the coronavirus, compared with 80 percent of other counties, and nearly half of counties with large black populations, 49 percent, have had at least one person die of covid-19, the study found. The higher diagnoses were found in disproportionately black counties in urban, small metro and rural areas. Death rates were higher in smaller metro areas and rural communities.

The study compared 677 disproportionately black counties in the country with 2,565 other counties. As of April 13, the United States had recorded 547,390 cases of covid-19 and 21,634 deaths. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledges “a disproportionate burden of illness and death” among people of color. The agency is still criticized by civil rights groups for providing incomplete information about race and ethnicity for covid-19 cases and deaths.





Although public health experts and political leaders have attributed the high rate of serious illness and deaths from covid-19 among black Americans to underlying health conditions, such as heart disease and diabetes, the Amfar study found that those factors were not the primary cause of the disparities. Rather, other social determinants, including employment, access to health insurance and medical care and poor air and water quality, were more predictive of infection and death from covid-19.

Millett, a former scientist with the CDC who focused on racial disparities in HIV infections, argues that it is “structural issues that are placing African Americans at greater risk for not only covid-19, but multiple health conditions that we still have not adequately addressed as a society.”

The study noted that disproportionately black counties with higher unemployment actually had fewer coronavirus cases. It also noted that “black Americans are more likely to have jobs that increase exposure to covid-19, including jobs deemed ‘essential’ during the current public health emergency.”





The study also pointed out that 91 percent of disproportionately black counties are in the South, where many states have not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, leaving low-income adults without health insurance. Rural communities in the South also have fewer medical professionals and facilities.

Even if elected leaders in these states are unwilling to immediately expand Medicaid, Millett said, there are “intermediate steps” that can be taken, including expanding testing in black communities, to improve prevention and treatment. He said officials also should take steps to reduce the populations of people in prisons and jails, which also have shown to be hot spots for covid-19.

Millett said that despite the disproportionate impact on communities of color, officials should remember that infectious diseases don’t respect geographical boundaries.





“Just because communities of color are disproportionately getting covid-19 or dying from it doesn’t mean it’s not going to affect other communities. Even though we live in a segregated society, people move around fairly freely,” he said.

Black people make up a disproportionate share of the population in 22 percent of U.S. counties, and those localities account for more than half of coronavirus cases and nearly 60 percent of deaths, a national study by an AIDS research group found.

The study also found that socioeconomic factors such as employment status and access to health care were better predictors of infection and death rates than underlying health conditions.

Gregorio Millett, vice president of Amfar, the Foundation for Aids Research, said the findings suggest that black people will be more vulnerable to the pandemic as states begin to reopen businesses and public spaces.

“It’s clear that there’s a disproportionate impact of covid-19 diagnoses and deaths among African Americans,” Millett said, adding that the authors of the study released it early in the hope of influencing policy decisions about reopening businesses. “All of my colleagues fear that with these policies to open up communities, that the brunt of the covid-19 epidemic is not going to be borne equally on all communities, that we will likely see greater covid-19 deaths as well as cases in African American communities.”

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Millett said researchers plan to track disproportionately black counties in four states — Georgia, Texas, Alabama and South Carolina — to see what effect loosening social distancing and sheltering requirements will have on covid-19 cases and deaths.

Researchers at Amfar and the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Georgia led the study team, which included investigators from Johns Hopkins, the University of Mississippi, Georgetown University and the nonprofit PATH.

The study adds to a growing body of data that has shown that black people have been infected and killed at disproportionate rates by the novel coronavirus. It also raises concern, as have other studies and analyses, about gaps in data collected and reported by county, state and federal officials about the race and ethnicity of virus sufferers, including testing, cases, hospitalizations and deaths.

AD
The Amfar study, based on data collected April 13, focused on counties in which black people made up more than 13 percent of the population. Disproportionately black counties account for 22 percent of all U.S. counties but have been home to 52 percent of coronavirus cases and 58 percent of deaths from covid-19, the disease the virus causes.

The coronavirus is infecting and killing black Americans at an alarmingly high rate

Almost all disproportionately black counties have had at least one person diagnosed with the coronavirus, compared with 80 percent of other counties, and nearly half of counties with large black populations, 49 percent, have had at least one person die of covid-19, the study found. The higher diagnoses were found in disproportionately black counties in urban, small metro and rural areas. Death rates were higher in smaller metro areas and rural communities.

AD

The study compared 677 disproportionately black counties in the country with 2,565 other counties. As of April 13, the United States had recorded 547,390 cases of covid-19 and 21,634 deaths. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledges “a disproportionate burden of illness and death” among people of color. The agency is still criticized by civil rights groups for providing incomplete information about race and ethnicity for covid-19 cases and deaths.

Although public health experts and political leaders have attributed the high rate of serious illness and deaths from covid-19 among black Americans to underlying health conditions, such as heart disease and diabetes, the Amfar study found that those factors were not the primary cause of the disparities. Rather, other social determinants, including employment, access to health insurance and medical care and poor air and water quality, were more predictive of infection and death from covid-19.

Millett, a former scientist with the CDC who focused on racial disparities in HIV infections, argues that it is “structural issues that are placing African Americans at greater risk for not only covid-19, but multiple health conditions that we still have not adequately addressed as a society.”

AD

The study noted that disproportionately black counties with higher unemployment actually had fewer coronavirus cases. It also noted that “black Americans are more likely to have jobs that increase exposure to covid-19, including jobs deemed ‘essential’ during the current public health emergency.”

The study also pointed out that 91 percent of disproportionately black counties are in the South, where many states have not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, leaving low-income adults without health insurance. Rural communities in the South also have fewer medical professionals and facilities.

Even if elected leaders in these states are unwilling to immediately expand Medicaid, Millett said, there are “intermediate steps” that can be taken, including expanding testing in black communities, to improve prevention and treatment. He said officials also should take steps to reduce the populations of people in prisons and jails, which also have shown to be hot spots for covid-19.

AD
Millett said that despite the disproportionate impact on communities of color, officials should remember that infectious diseases don’t respect geographical boundaries.

“Just because communities of color are disproportionately getting covid-19 or dying from it doesn’t mean it’s not going to affect other communities. Even though we live in a segregated society, people move around fairly freely,” he said.

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Vanessa Williams
Vanessa Williams is a reporter on the National desk. Follow
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Immediately after the outbreak, the Chinese authorities contacted the WHO representative office in China and confirmed the information to the WHO," Michael Ryan, who's emergency director, said at a WHO news conference.

I saw an article on the website..And Who is right or wrong?

Who is right or wrong?

Among the myriad, earth-shattering geopolitical effects of coronavirus, one is already graphically evident. China has re-positioned itself. For the first time since the start of Deng Xiaoping’s reforms in 1978, Beijing openly regards the US as a threat, as stated a month ago by Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Munich Security Conference during the peak of the fight against coronavirus.

Beijing is carefully, incrementally shaping the narrative that, from the beginning of the coronovirus attack, the leadership knew it was under a hybrid war attack. Xi’s terminology is a major clue. He said, on the record, that this was war. And, as a counter-attack, a “people’s war” had to be launched.

Moreover, he described the virus as a demon or devil. Xi is a Confucianist. Unlike some other ancient Chinese thinkers, Confucius was loath to discuss supernatural forces and judgment in the afterlife. However, in a Chinese cultural context, devil means “white devils” or “foreign devils”: guailo in Mandarin, gweilo in Cantonese. This was Xi delivering a powerful statement in code.


When Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, voiced in an incandescent tweet the possibility that “it might be US Army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan” – the first blast to this effect to come from a top official – Beijing was sending up a trial balloon signaliing that the gloves were finally off. Zhao Lijian made a direct connection with the Military Games in Wuhan in October 2019, which included a delegation of 300 US military.

He directly quoted US CDC director Robert Redfield who, when asked last week whether some deaths by coronavirus had been discovered posthumously in the US, replied that “some cases have actually been diagnosed this way in the US today.”