The Daily - Why Is the Pandemic Killing So Many Black Americans?

Episode Date: May 20, 2020

Some have called the pandemic “the great equalizer.” But the coronavirus is killing black Americans at staggeringly higher rates than white Americans. Today, we explore why. Guest: Linda Villarosa, a writer for The New York Times Magazine covering racial health disparities, who spoke to Nicole Charles in New Orleans, La. about the death of her husband, Cornell Charles, known as Dickey. He was 51. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily Background reading: How Mardi Gras accelerated the spread of the coronavirus among an already vulnerable population in New Orleans.The coronavirus has killed black and Latino people in New York City at twice the rate that it has killed white people. Black Britons are also twice as likely to die from coronavirus.Black Americans can face subconscious bias from medical professionals when they seek care. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have advised health professionals to be on the lookout for such bias, but some say the issue is far more systemic.

From The New York Times, I'm Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily. Today, the coronavirus is killing Black Americans at staggeringly higher rates than white Americans. My colleague, Times Magazine writer Linda Villarosa, on the myth of the pandemic as the great equalizer. It's Wednesday, May 20th. Hello. Hello.

Hello. Hi, my name's Linda Villarosa. I'm from the New York Times Magazine. How are you, Ms. Linda? I'm okay. How are you? I'm just okay, too. Yeah. I think we should just accept that we're like, okay. And listen, I've been hearing stories about your husband all morning and, you know, wish I had gotten to meet him. What a wonderful person he sounds like. Oh, yes, he was. That's what he was. Linda, tell me about Cornell Charles. Cornell Charles, who goes by the nickname Dickie,

was born and raised in New Orleans. He still lived in the house where he grew up. He was a family man who had two daughters. He was married for decades to Nicole Charles, his wife, who I got to speak to recently.

My husband loved to cook. Every Sunday, my husband would cook. You would think he was cooking for the military. Dickey was the king of the kitchen. Every Sunday after church, friends and family gathered at Nicole and Dickey's house. You didn't have to have an invite to come in. Everybody knew if I want to eat something, I'm going to buy pernil and Nicole. Everybody knew if I want to eat something, I'm going to buy Cornell and Nicole. People knew you could just go there if the door was open. He loved for you to gloat over his food.

He wanted you to brag on it. So he would literally sit there and watch you eat it. And he's always like, OK, high taste, high taste. And everybody would be like, look at the plate. What does that tell you? And what were his best dishes? Oh my God, Ms. Linda. His gumbo was number one. He was definitely a seafood baller. He cooked seafood. He cooked gumbo. He also was a master of spaghetti salad. He also made meatballs. He would cook meatballs the size of a baseball. So everybody would call them miniature meatloaves because they were so big. And as a community man, he was also part of this club called the Zulu Club.

Tell me about what the Zulu group meant to your husband. God. It was, let me see how I can... It was in his blood. That kind of sums it up. And what is the Zulu Club? So the Zulu Club is an organization of mostly Black men in New Orleans. He first got involved in Zulu in around 2004.

My dad was Zulu governor that year, and my husband began to deal with Zulu. And it was started in 1909. Black people were still reeling from the end of slavery. in 1909. Black people were still reeling from the end of slavery. And also it was during the years of Jim Crow when Black people and other people couldn't afford funerals. And so the Zulu Club members came together to pool their money together to bury their dead in a dignified manner. He was passionate about it and he would give his all. Zulu was definitely something he enjoyed. It was a respectable organization of men. Most of the year, it's a civic club. So they collect food, their scholarships, a mentoring program. But during Mardi Gras. All right. And now we are

showing the King of Zulu. It's the symbol of Black New Orleans, and it involves festivals and balls and all kinds of different events. The event that Dickie Charles was the most involved with was the Governor's Ball, and there were thousands of people at that event. It's a party. People bring their own food. You have to wear formal clothes or else you can't get in. People are elbow to elbow. They're dancing and it lasts all night.

It's really fun. But as this was happening behind the scenes, coronavirus was also building. behind the scenes coronavirus was also building. So he came home from work. Ten days after Mardi Gras ended, Dickie Charles didn't feel well. They say, I feel like I'm coming down with something, which is normal for him. I said, well, OK, you know, why don't you just take it easy? But

he spiked a fever like the next day. I'm just thinking he got the flu. So let's give you some Tylenol and put some fluids in you and whatever, whatever. So two or three days of that went on with his flu spiking and my husband is a big man. Even if he was sick, he would still

eat, but I couldn't even get him to eat soup. And that was his go-to thing if he was sick, he would still eat, but I couldn't even get him to eat soup. And that was his go-to thing when he was sick. So I said, baby, you have to put something in your stomach because he was a diabetic. He also had high blood pressure and he also had kidney disease. Saturday morning, we wake up still. I said, baby, how you feel? And he was just like, you know, I feel the same. And I said, okay, I don't like that. I said, go value fear. And he was just like, you know, I feel the same. And I said, OK, I don't like that. I said, go take a shower, put on some clothes, we're going to the ER. So that was March 14th.

They checked him in to the hospital. And by the following day, it was clear that something was wrong. Sunday, when the medical doctor came in, she said, I want you to see the chest x-ray. So I said, okay. She put it up on the screen. She said, well, you see where his left lung is clear. Left lung is fine. She said, but does he have a cloud over his right lung? I said, yes, ma'am. She said, well, this could be pneumonia.

So she said, but I'm going to start him on some antibiotics in case that's what it is. I want to beat it. In a matter of hours, in a matter of hours, they come back and they tell me how bad his lungs are. And that was a clue that they needed to test him for the coronavirus, even though it would take 10 days for the results to come back. him for the coronavirus, even though it would take 10 days for the results to come back. And one of the doctors came in and said, we need to have a very honest conversation. We need to vent your husband now. So of course my heart dropped and I said a ventilator. And was like yes ma'am his lungs will not be functioning much longer on their own goodness I'm like he really is I haven't really seen which I I didn't

realize it was to that extent if they're telling me he needs to be on a ventilator I don't want to say no and not give him a chance. You know what I'm saying? So I'm like, okay, all right, let's do it. So for the next three days, Nicole was at the hospital. Dickie's on the ventilator. He was in a coma-like state, so he's not responding. What were you saying to him? Oh my God, how much I love him. I miss him. You know, pray. I need you to pray. You know, I was telling him, you may not can speak, but God can hear your prayer. And that was basically my conversation for him every day. And I see you, you know, listen to gospel music. I would pray for him

anyway. And I was in the midst of praying for him, which is what I did all the time. I would touch him from his head to his toe and I would pray over his body. I was at his feet and I was coming back up towards his head and he opened his eyes for me. And I said, oh, I said, baby, you opened your eyes for me.

I said, I'm so proud of you. And he knew I was there because he would nod. Now, at this time, I was playing gospel music and the phone went off and I said, do'm so proud of you. And he knew I was there because he would nod. Now, at this time, I was playing gospel music, and the phone went off. And I said, do you want me to play another gospel song for you? And he nodded his head. Do you love me? And he nodded his head.

And I said, I love you so much. I said, I'm so proud of you. You opened your eyes, and he had his eyes open the whole time I was there. And the nurse who was working with him that day, she said, Mr. Charles, I've been trying to get you to open your eyes all day and you shone off for your wife. And I said, that's right, because

he had to look at his wife. He heard my voice and he had to see my face. And that was the last time I saw my husband with his eyes open. He looked good. My husband never lost weight. He never looked sick, Ms. Linda. He never, even when he was on a ventilator, he never looked sick. He never looked sick. He never looked sick.

And I thank God for that because him looking sick and being sick probably would have really turned me up. Looking at him, looking healthy. And, you know, I told him, I said, I love you and I'm leaving you in God's hands. I kept talking to him and just telling him how much we love him and how much we come to miss him. And he took his last breath in front of me. At 1.33 on the 24th. He looked really, really peaceful.

He did. Yes. He died that afternoon, and he was only 51 years old. The next day, as Nicole was grieving, she finally got the results of Dickie's COVID test and found out that, yes, he was positive. He did die of the coronavirus. The phone calls that I have gotten from Zulu members have been overwhelming.

They have reached out via text, via phone call, sending cards. It's just so much. You know, Ms. Lyndon, I didn't realize the magnitude of the people my husband touched until his accident. And I've gotten so many phone calls to tell me, you know, he motivated me to do this or he encouraged me to do that or he was my mentor. I mean, I can just stand so proud

and say he was my husband. I can stand tall and just brag that that was my husband, you know? I mean, it's so funny because being his wife and as much as he used to go, and when I say go, he went with a purpose. Baby, I'm going to, I got to go practice this team at this time. I have to practice this team at that time.

When I leave there, I have to go to this meeting or whatever, whatever. And to realize what his purpose was now gives me such a sense of joy. now gives me such a sense of joy. Well, since Mardi Gras Day has been a devastating couple of weeks for Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club, but he wasn't the only member of the Zulu Club to get sick. Several of their members tested positive for coronavirus. At the time I finished my reporting, 30 members of the Zulu Club have been infected with the virus. And of those 30, eight had died. Wow. I looked at the Facebook page yesterday and saw that on May 4th, another one of them died. Linda, what did you and what did the members of the Zulu Club make of the number of members who were dying?

At first, it felt like, oh, wrong place, wrong time situation. Mardi Gras was really crowded. Carnival season lasted for six weeks, and there were crowds. People were elbow to elbow. So it made sense at the beginning. But frankly, behind the scenes, those of us who understand public health or who look at questions of public health started to worry because we knew that there were going to be high death rates among

Black people and high hospitalization rates, but there was no data yet. So when the data started rolling out, nationwide cities have been releasing COVID-19 data showing racial disparities in diagnosis and in death. It confirmed what many in public health knew. Those numbers show a disturbing trend. But it was still very scary. Black people are dying at a much higher rate than any other race right now. In the state of Louisiana.

Of the more than 500 people whose final breaths were stolen by this disease, the state says that more than two-thirds of them were Black. Black people comprise 30 percent of the population, but 70 percent of those who have died of COVID. Then other states started to roll out their data. A thousand more cases of COVID-19 confirmed here in Illinois just today. In Illinois. More than half of all cases in Chicago are in the African-American community. 38% of Missourians who died from COVID-19 were Black, but African-Americans only make up 12% of Missouri's population. The reports are startling in North Carolina, Connecticut, and Michigan, too.

So at that point, it begged the question, why? Why was this killing so many Black people? Why was it having such a devastating effect on Black America? We'll be right back. Linda, how do we explain this extraordinarily higher death rate in the Black community from the coronavirus? Well, it was interesting. During the beginning of this pandemic... Everyone, everyone is subject to this virus. It is the great equalizer.

People started saying, oh, COVID is the great equalizer, or the virus doesn't discriminate. From the moment the coronavirus outbreak began, health officials have preached that COVID-19 doesn't discriminate, that it's an equal opportunity killer. But those of us who have studied public health know that that wasn't true. And in fact, we say it a different way. We say when America sneezes, the Black community gets pneumonia. And for me, I'm really passionate about racial health disparities. I've been studying it for 30 years. I was a young editor at Essence magazine and I started first writing about this. I'm writing a book about it now. And we have long known that all kinds of diseases do discriminate.

It's not equal. And how does COVID-19 discriminate against Black America? COVID-19 is more serious in Black Americans. So we're more likely to be hospitalized, to have a serious case, and to also die from it. And there are three main reasons for this disparity. Okay. And what is the first of those reasons? The first reason is simple. It's proximity to the virus. Black Americans are more likely to be employed in essential jobs, in frontline jobs, in jobs where they are more commonly exposed to the virus itself. I'm thinking of Dickie Charles. He continued working. He is a courier for a medical company. I think of the Zulu members, one of the men who died was a postal worker. He was a mail carrier. One was a police officer who

contracted COVID. Another was a security guard. And was a police officer who contracted COVID. Another was a security guard. And look, we don't know whether these members of the Zulu Club contracted the virus at Mardi Gras or on their jobs. But we do know that the majority of Black people in this country have jobs that put them at risk. So that's the first reason Black Americans are dying at such disproportionate rates. The second factor is discrimination that is embedded in the healthcare system itself. Linda, this is something you and I first talked about over a year ago when we did an episode of The Daily about Black women and their mortality rates when giving birth. And you explain this concept that essentially racism, conscious or deeply unconscious, influences the kind of medical care delivered to black patients. Yes. And I believe that it's unconscious. And it's not just white doctors. It's also Black doctors, we or doctors of other races, because we all live in the society that has discrimination and racist images embedded in our culture. It's baked in. Thousands of studies have shown over decades that Black people get unequal treatment in our healthcare system.

decades, Black people get unequal treatment in our healthcare system. I wonder if you can walk me through a scenario that people in public health say could or has happened when it comes to this pandemic that explains this. Well, you can imagine being a healthcare provider, specifically being a physician, and you're having to make life or death decisions. Who should get tested? Who should be admitted to the hospital? Who needs to be put on a ventilator? Who needs to be taken off a ventilator? So you're a doctor and people that don't look like you, don't have the same culture as you, don't have the same background with you come in. You may think about them differently. Medical providers don't go into medicine to harm people, but that harm may show up, especially during a very stressed

out moment, which is the essence of this moment in coronavirus. So Linda, what is the third major factor here in why something like the coronavirus discriminates against Black Americans. So the third reason is that Black Americans have more of the underlying conditions that make COVID-19 worse. Some of these are hypertension and heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and asthma. So if you have these underlying conditions, you're more likely to be quite sick. That was the case with Dickie Charles. He had high blood pressure.

He had diabetes. He had kidney disease. And that is also the case with so many other Black Americans. And why is that? Why is there such a disproportionate level of these preexisting underlying conditions? So at first glance, it seems like, well, if everyone just takes better care of themselves,

you can avoid these kinds of conditions. But that tilts toward a kind of irresponsibility among Black people that really isn't fair. So a study in early April found out that people who have been subjected to long-term exposure to air pollution are more likely to have serious cases of COVID than people who don't. And Black people are more likely to live in areas that are polluted. part of Cancer Alley, which is an 85-mile stretch along the highway in Louisiana, where there's the largest concentration of petrochemical factories in the country. And so New Orleans itself is the victim of this kind of unequal exposure to dirty air, dirty water, dirty soil. And this is where the Zulus live. This is where Dickie Charles and Nicole Charles live. So the environment is one factor that drives the underlying conditions that Black Americans are disproportionately more likely to face. But a second factor is the concept of

weathering. And weathering is the concept that racism takes a physical toll on the Black body and leaves it more vulnerable to all kinds of illness. That's exactly right. And it's best to think of it as a kind of accelerated aging. So adversity comes in the form of discrimination. It could be discrimination in housing. It could be discrimination by police. It could be discrimination in housing. It could be discrimination by police. It could be discrimination in employment. It could just be the stress of having to struggle every day.

It changes the systems of the body at a cellular level. So if you are faced with a kind of adverse event, your blood pressure goes up, your heart rate goes up, your breathing becomes more rapid. And this is all part of the fight or flight syndrome. But it shouldn't be made to happen over and over and over again. But if you're facing that kind of adversity, that's what happens. And it wears away the body. It ages the body. So that would make sense why Black people are more likely to have these kind of underlying conditions and why we get them at younger ages. So Linda, putting all of this together, all these factors, you have a Black population at a higher risk of exposure just given the nature of their work.

A population that already has higher rates of underlying conditions. On top of that, there is this weathering phenomenon that deepens those conditions, literally seems to age this already not well vulnerable body. And finally, a medical system inclined to undertreat these people when they come in to a hospital or a doctor's office. Yes. And that is what has created this perfect and terrible storm when it comes to the coronavirus and Black people in America. It sounds like the public health experts you talked to, that they knew these death rates, these infection rates, this kind of disproportionateness was going to play out with this pandemic. And now that it has, how are they thinking about it? I think this is a difficult moment, but it's also a moment where a tragedy can be turned

into something else. So those in public health have known that there are racial disparities in health. I mean, we've known since 1899 when W.E.B. Du Bois was calling it a crisis. And some of the people that I interviewed in my story have been studying this for decades and have added up the price. And so they're hoping that now is a moment of reckoning to say, this is a horrible moment. Please don't turn away. Do something about this. I'm curious what the government's response to this pandemic, which is widely acknowledged was slow, which is widely acknowledged was slow, what that has meant for this particular group of Americans. So the government's slow and uncoordinated and confusing response hurt everyone. It hurt all Americans. It harmed us. But it hurt this group, Black people, Black Americans worse,

because we were already more vulnerable to many of these health problems that make COVID-19 worse. And sometimes when I think of it, I think specifically about the men in the Zulu Club and how they were harmed by this federal response. And it had this terrible, sad trickle-down effect to them on the ground. Right. Well, how are members of the Zulu Club and their families doing at this point? The entire group is reeling from what happened. I mean, they're a brotherhood, so they're trying to support and take care of each other, but they're in pain. And you're good? You're feeling okay?

I also checked in with Nicole, Dickie Charles' wife, just to see how she was doing. I'm feeling as good as I can be. God didn't choose me, so I have to find a way to maneuver my new life. This is a very hard time for her. She's grieving this man that she was married to for three decades. But it's going to be a huge huge adjustment i tell people my life did a 180 degree turn within a matter of 10 days yep sorely miss my husband i out of 30 years miss linda i've never not slept next to him for longer than two days in 30 years oh wow if wow. If I did not see an exam, he would have gone to a football camp. More than a week after Dickie Charles died,

she arranged his funeral. It was at their church. There were 10 people there, 10 family members and an organist. I will trust in the Lord. It was also live streamed. 600 people tuned in. I tuned in. Oh found it sad and hard because I was thinking about someone like Dickie and many of the other Zulus would have gotten a different kind of send-off, would have gotten a second-line funeral where, you know, it happens in the street, and all those 600 people would be right there in person.

People would be dressed up. There would be music. And that is the legacy of the Zulu Club. It was formed to help people send off their dead in a graceful, in a respectful, in a dignified way, and in a way that celebrated their life. Mm-hmm. Linda, thank you very much. We appreciate it. Thank you, and please take care of yourself.

You too. Well, thank you so much. Thank you for taking out the time. Take care of yourself. I will. I will. I will. Thank you so much.

Okay. Thank you. Bye-bye. Okay. Bye-bye. Okay. Bye-bye. We'll be right back. Here's what else you need to know today. The death toll from the coronavirus in the U.S. has reached a new milestone, surpassing 90,000 people. Nearly a third of those deaths occurred in New York State. As of Tuesday, there have been more than 1.5 million infections across the U.S.

And, a major new study found an unprecedented decline in global carbon emissions during the pandemic, as demand for major sources of carbon dioxide, like flying and driving, have sharply declined. During March and April, carbon emissions fell by 1 billion tons, or 17%, a decline that was cheered by those studying climate change. But scientists expect those emissions to rebound as economies around the world begin to reopen. That's it for The Daily. I'm Michael Barbaro. See you tomorrow.