Follow section front redirects in Spectrum

Enable NLP source in PCS for load testing

Switch off the News Alerts Survey Widget when we have enough responses

Poll to determine if new LUF updates are available

Allows the winning A/B test variant to be turned on without Spectrum deployment

Show infinite scrolling sections in Assembler MultiView

Show option for NLP article summaries in Action Bar

A general feature flag for Recipe Features that aren't yet released

Feature flag for media team features that aren't yet released

Use new Orca video player for preroll plugin in Spectrum

Show the snow tracker (instead of the heat tracker) on Spectrum

Hunter Biden attorney threatens litigation against Fox News

Trump and allies say Biden pays rent for ‘illegals’ in Michigan. Not true.

Harsh deportation tools are just fine with many Americans

Soldiers reunite with their pets from overseas: ‘It meant everything to me’

Chiropractor works on giraffe, is nuzzled: ‘Giraffes are just giant dogs?’

An SUV was in flames on the highway. Strangers saved the driver.  

Meta’s oversight body prepares to lay off workers

An AI blood test purports to diagnose postpartum depression

A TikTok ban could also end short-form video as we’ve come to know it

Is student loan debt an emergency? Take our quiz.

Humans might need to re-engineer the climate

The Fed’s fight against inflation needs to lose the dot plot

Eighty percent of Ukraine-Israel bill will be spent in U.S. or by U.S. military

Facts in the Trump courtroom v. ‘facts’ in the court of public opinion

Carolyn Hax: Is checking his phone the best way to prove he isn’t lying anymore?

Ask Amy: Boyfriend’s CPA dad did my taxes wrong for years

Miss Manners: I think kindergarten graduations are ‘ridiculous’

The Rick Steves guide to life

The sad, stale state of in-flight vegetarian meals

Is Southwest about to end its free-for-all seating?

Middle East conflict live updates: Blinken calls proposed Israeli cease-fire deal ‘extraordinarily generous’

The Rangers swept the Capitals, and it’s time for the new core to take charge

Jayden Daniels is latest in Washington’s checkered history of first-round QBs

An assassination plot on American soil reveals a darker side of Modi’s India

Spanish leader Sánchez to stay in power after resignation drama

Scotland leader Humza Yousaf resigns in latest setback for independence 

Where seas are rising at alarming speed 

The new face of flooding

In photos: Tornadoes wreak havoc in Oklahoma, Nebraska and Iowa

 Donald Trump Speaks During A Campaign Rally In Green Bay Wisconsin

Health

Well+Being

Opinions

Higher Education

Education

https://www.washingtonpost.com/coronavirus/

Coronavirus pandemic

Jeff Kowalsky

There’s an old saying that has circulated in black communities for as long as I can remember. “When white America catches a cold, black folks catch pneumonia.” So, what’s the analogy now that all of America is in danger of catching covid-19?

The answer that’s emerging is devastating. Covid-19 is not an equal opportunity disease. Right now, black America is uniquely in the bull’s eye of this pandemic.

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/04/07/coronavirus-is-infecting-killing-black-americans-an-alarmingly-high-rate-post-analysis-shows/?arc404=true" target="_blank">Blacks comprise 32 percent of Chicago’s population</a> but nearly 70 percent of covid-19 deaths.

Blacks comprise 26 percent of Milwaukee’s population but account for 73 percent of covid-19 deaths.

Blacks account for 40 percent of covid-19 deaths in Michigan even though they represent just 14 percent of the state’s population.

In Louisiana blacks make up 32 percent of the state’s population but 70 percent of those who have died because of the virus.

The disparities should not have been surprising. It should have been clear that a crisis of this magnitude would stretch and snap the social safety nets that were already in bad shape. It should have been obvious that communities with higher concentrations of diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and asthma would be devastated by covid-19.

Full coverage of the coronavirus pandemic

And it should have been obvious that the usual <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK425844/">disparities in our health-care system</a> — where blacks and all people of color have poorer health outcomes, lower access to insurance and higher mortality rates — would create a series of localized catastrophes within a national crisis.

The concentration of these numbers is so overpowering that death will not be random and rare. There will be families and churches with multiple losses. Trauma on a massive scale.

I say this not to wag a finger — we don’t have time for that. I say it to ask what is being done now to inform and protect the communities at the center of this pandemic.

Collecting, analyzing and disclosing racial data on testing, treatment and deaths is just a start. <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/long-term-care.html">The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention moved relatively quickly to provide guidance for long-term care facilities and nursing homes</a> because of early and frequent reports of infection in those places. It should follow the same course for other potential hot spots where people are still venturing into the workplace daily: warehouses, transportation hubs and high-density, low-income communities.

We are asking a lot of the people who are making our isolation possible. You might be confined to your home, but who do you think is picking the produce you still enjoy at dinner and unpacking the latest shipment at your local pharmacy? Who is working in all those nursing homes? Who is driving the buses and garbage trucks? Think about the passengers who still have to get across town to those jobs as mass transit scales back (to what are unironically known in Washington, D.C., as “lifeline” routes.)

If America cannot provide masks and goggles and protective equipment for front-line doctors and nurses, what do you think is happening for the thousands of back-end staff who keep hospitals running? The custodians and cooks? The health aides and lab techs? The security guards and maintenance staffs?

The novel <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/coronavirus/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">coronavirus</a> is exposing and amplifying the bias that was already embedded in our social fabric. We must do more to protect people who get up and get out of the house every day right now to keep at least some of the cogs running our hobbled economy.

When asked about the disproportionate impact on African Americans during Tuesday’s White House briefing, Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/coronavirus-government-response-updates-navarro-warned-white-house/story?id=70019546" target=_blank>said there is “nothing we can do about it right now,”</a> except to try to give black covid-19 patients the best possible care.

With all due respect to the good doctor, there are some things that can be done now.

You can’t extinguish a fire unless you know where it is burning. An effort should be made to close the gaps in testing in virus-ravaged communities so people can protect themselves, their families and their co-workers. Since access to health care is limited in black communities, that might require creating mobile rapid response teams that can move as needed to localized hot zones.

The Opinions section is looking for stories of how the coronavirus has affected people of all walks of life. Write to us.

An additional effort is needed to get masks and gloves to employees working in essential jobs. <a href="https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2020/04/07/coronavirus-detroit-bus-duggan/2962642001/">Detroit will begin distributing masks to all riders on city buses</a> — a smart decision no doubt influenced by <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/03/826817866/take-this-serious-bus-driver-dies-of-covid-19-after-calling-out-coughing-rider">the death of Jason Hargrove, a Detroit bus driver who died of the virus</a> 11 days after fuming about a coughing passenger on a widely viewed Facebook video.

We need a coordinated effort to make sure that people who live in food deserts have access to what they need to keep themselves healthy and keep their homes safe. In areas where the virus is concentrated, food banks and meal distribution plans could also dispense basic cleaning products, which are already in short supply in grocery stores.

And there should be targeted awareness campaigns to swat down any kind of misinformation that leads people to minimize the threat, mistakenly thinking that young people are immune or the virus mainly claims older white victims.

There are those who will say this should not be about race. They are wrong. It already is.

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-pandemic-doesnt-recognize-borders-its-a-problem-for-everyone/2020/04/13/8115dbfc-7b6a-11ea-a311-adb1344719a9_story.html" target=_blank>Read a letter in response to this piece: A pandemic doesn’t recognize borders. It’s a problem for everyone.</a>

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/04/01/writer-contagion-imagined-all-this-except-inept-government-response/">Michele L. Norris: The writer of</a><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/04/01/writer-contagion-imagined-all-this-except-inept-government-response/"> </a><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/04/01/writer-contagion-imagined-all-this-except-inept-government-response/">‘Contagion’</a><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/04/01/writer-contagion-imagined-all-this-except-inept-government-response/"> imagined all of this — except the inept government response</a>

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/29/our-children-are-watching-us-closely-now/">Michele L. Norris: Our children are watching us closely now</a>

<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/keeping-our-hospitals-afloat-means-supporting-all-hospital-workers/2020/04/07/4fddcd26-7834-11ea-9bee-c5bf9d2e3288_story.html">The Post’s View: Keeping our hospitals afloat means supporting all hospital workers</a>

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/04/08/dc-must-protect-its-inmates-coronavirus/">Daniel S. Harawa and Ben Miller: D.C. must protect its inmates from the coronavirus</a>

<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-cdc-must-end-its-silence-on-the-racial-impact-of-covid-19/2020/04/07/6d686450-7906-11ea-9bee-c5bf9d2e3288_story.html">Spencer Overton: The CDC must end its silence on the racial impact of covid-19</a>

Livingston Award, 1990

Essence Magazine’s 25 Most Influential Black Americans, 2009

Ebony Magazine’s Power 150 list, 2009

Ebony’s 8th Outstanding Women in Marketing & Communications Award, 2007

NABJ "Journalist of the Year," 2009

Peabody Award, 2014

Alfred I. Dupont -Columbia University Award for excellence in broadcasting

NABJ’s Salute to Excellence Award, 2006

University of Minnesota’s Outstanding Achievement Award

The Grace of Silence: A Memoir

University of Wisconsin, Engineering

University of Minnesota, Journalism 

Michele L. Norris is a columnist and consultant for Post Opinions and founding director of The Race Card Project.

Michele  Norris

washpost

the-washington-post

US-HEALTH-VIRUS

Contributor

Afp Via Getty Images

Getty

U.S. cases and deaths by state

World map

New CDC guidance

When am I still contagious?

The people who never get covid

Coronavirus

iptc-media/health/diseases_and_conditions

iptc-media/health/diseases_and_conditions/illness

iptc-media/health/diseases_and_conditions/communicable_disease/virus_disease/retrovirus

iptc-media/health/health_treatment/medicine

iptc-media/health/health_treatment/preventative_medicine

iptc-media/health/health_treatment/preventative_medicine/vaccines

iptc-media/health/diseases_and_conditions/communicable_disease/virus_disease

iptc-media/society

iptc-media/health/diseases_and_conditions/communicable_disease

iptc-media/science_and_technology

iptc-media/health/healthcare_policy/government_health_care

iptc-media/health/health_treatment

iptc-media/health

iptc-media/health/diseases_and_conditions/communicable_disease/virus_disease/AIDS

iptc-media/health/diseases_and_conditions/communicable_disease/epidemic

iptc-media/health/healthcare_policy

client-blocklists/Client List: Morgan Stanley KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Becton Dickinson KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/CLIENT LIST: Nomura KWs 2021 - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Boeing KWs 2021- INCLUDE ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Exxon Mobil  - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Microsoft KWs 2 - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/GEICO KWs - INCLUDES ANY_4.26.21

client-blocklists/Client List: T. Rowe Price KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/T. Rowe Price KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

advertising/B2_Agriculture/Food Production_legacyaux_PI3

client-blocklists/HBO KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Ford/Lincoln KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/ExxonMobil 03312021 KWs - INCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Bank of America KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

advertising/Siemens Continuum KWs

advertising/Flu, Sickness & Virus Content

client-blocklists/WaPo: Combined Disaster Keyword List - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/Coronavirus Content

client-blocklists/Client List: Optum KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Navy Federal Credit Union NFCU KWs 2 - EXCLUDES ALL - 12.23.20

client-blocklists/Client List: Eli Lily KWs - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/B2_Data Center Buyer_legacyaux_80A

client-blocklists/Client List: Purina KWs - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/Qualcomm Custom KW - 5G

advertising/Citrix Mindfulness

advertising/B2_Health Care Policy Enthusiast_legacyaux_7ny

advertising/B2_Health_legacyaux_q5h

advertising/Client Keywords: On Running

client-blocklists/BP KWs - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/B2_Diabetes_legacyaux_8R9

advertising/B2_Positive News_legacyaux_hlt

advertising/B2_Race and Ethnicity_legacyaux_n7j

advertising/B2_Retirement Planners 2.12.15_legacyaux_k9i

advertising/B2_Science, Health & Technology_legacyaux_wkq

advertising/B2_Social Issues Content_legacyaux_8C2

advertising/B2_Society_legacyaux_0cz

client-blocklists/Client List: GEICO KWs

client-blocklists/Client List: KPMG KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Navy Federal Credit Union NFCU KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Novo Nordisk KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Siemens KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Cisco KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: AT&T ALT KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Mercedes KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/FX Excludes All Disney

client-blocklists/Client List: Inpixon KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Boeing KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Google KWs - INCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: AT&T KWs 2021 - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Philip Morris KWs - INCLUDES ANY 

client-blocklists/Capital One KWs 2 - INCLUDES ANY - 1.4.21

client-blocklists/Bank of America Merrill Lynch KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Google PG KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Chase KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Office Depot KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: ETrade KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

Sign up for the Prompt 2024 newsletter for opinions on the biggest questions in politics

Washington Post Opinions

The Washington Post Opinions section features opinion articles, op-eds, editorials by the Editorial Board, global opinions and letters to the editor on the issues of the day. Offerings include columns by Washington Post opinion writers, political cartoons by editorial cartoonists Ann Telnaes and Michael de Adder and podcasts by Jonathan Capehart.

Sign up for Prompt 2024 to get opinions on the biggest questions about the 2024 election cycle

Need something to talk about? Text us for thought-provoking opinions that can break any awkward silence.

Opinion Columns

Opinion Columnists

Columns

prism://prism.query/tag,magnet-coronavirus&limit=20

News and updates about the coronavirus pandemic: Cases in the US, death toll, what you need to know about the virus, how to prepare, how to get tested.