Wrote Fredrick Echols, director of the City of St. Louis Department of Health, Newsweek reports.
He also wrote: "We are learning more about the coronavirus every day, but let me tell you this in no uncertain terms: It doesn't care if you are black, brown, white, red, yellow or some other shade... The idea that African Americans are somehow resistant to it is both untrue and dangerous to the health of our community."
According to Newsweek, there's a belief out there that "African Americans may be more resistant, if not immune, to coronavirus because of their higher levels of melanin." I'm not surprised to see that, because the disease originated in China and was slow to reach Africa, and people were speculating that racial differences mattered. As time has passed, it seems that the black population in the U.S. is more vulnerable — because other health problems. Anthony Fauci listed the conditions that disproportionately afflict African Americans: "diabetes, hypertension, obesity and asthma."
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I think we are also seeing the downside to size-inclusive movement that has been going on in the past few years. The anti-"fat shaming" movement doesn't seem to be empowering people who get COVID.
I don't see much evidence that there is a significant racial component to coronavirus. Here are the statistics for New York, which includes racial data (https://covid19tracker.health.ny.gov/views/NYS-COVID19-Tracker/NYSDOHCOVID-19Tracker-Fatalities?%3Aembed=yes&%3Atoolbar=no&%3Atabs=n)
In NYC Hispanics 34% of deaths/29% of population, Blacks 28%/22%, Whites 27%/32%, Asians, 7%/14%. Cases are proportional to population with some minor differences.
Most of this kind of commentary seems like political exploitation of the epidemic rather than concern about an actual problem.
Politics rears it ugly head. Blacks may have a genetic susceptibility to the virus in their ACE receptor plus, of course, obesity, high blood pressure and the level of cooperation with public behavior like staying away from crowds and self isolation.
Lord, please don't let this reach the levels of fiction associated with AIDS, when the 20-year Chicago pastor of a future U.S. president would tell his 1,000+-member congregation that the U.S. government developed the AIDS virus to wipe out the world's black population.
Blacks may have a genetic susceptibility to the virus in their ACE receptor plus, of course, obesity, high blood pressure and the level of cooperation with public behavior like staying away from crowds and self isolation.
I think another factor is that blacks in midwestern cities like St Louis are overrepresented in "public facing" jobs - bus driver, DMV clerk, airport workers, etc.
This is maybe not as much of an issue in LA or NY, where immigrants have taken over a lot of those jobs, but here in St Louis those occupations are still black dominated.
"because other problems." Makes me ponder the disappearance of "of." Simple typo, or a real shift in grammar?
Is it moving from punchline (because reasons, etc) into general usage?
Hereabouts, we have >1k COVID-19 cases identified, and deaths are still in double digits.
Narr
And a sudden cool spell
The statistics are surreal. The coronavirus is now killing more African-Americans in St. Louis than gunfire. Very few thought that would ever happen.
A Milwaukee co-worker took a solo Sunday drive around town just to get out of the house. His report from white neighborhoods was some well-distanced strolling and biking, but in some of the black neighborhoods he was surprised to see pick-up basketball and sitting crowded around picnic tables.
I have no guess as to whether that was because of the rumored "immunity", or ineffective communication of risk to this community, or a perceived lack of alternatives (crowded homes, no Netflix), or a general disregard for directives, or ???
We are learning more about the coronavirus every day, but let me tell you this in no uncertain terms: It doesn't care if you are black, brown, white, red, yellow or some other shade
Some other shade is an uncertain term.
Go with Crayola color names, is my rule for certainty. Indian red.
MayBee said...
I think we are also seeing the downside to size-inclusive movement that has been going on in the past few years. The anti-"fat shaming" movement doesn't seem to be empowering people who get COVID.
4/10/20, 10:01 AM
Does that make the virus fatphobic, racist, or both? The "woke" are dying to know so they know where/how to direct their outrage!
Doesn't the NYT 1619 Project teach us all that EVERYTHING BUT EVERYTHING has to do with race?
all 12 COVID-19 deaths in the City of St. Louis were African Americans..."
let me tell you this in no uncertain terms: It doesn't care if you are black, brown, white, red, yellow
Hmmm, i'm no statistician, but is SOUNDS kinda like IT DOES CARE
Does this disparity mean Joe Biden wanted to kill-off black Americans when he opposed the China travel ban?
You know some prominent opinion writers likely would be saying that if a Trump policy had a similar disparate impact.
Young Hegelian was suggesting that there is already a lot of immunity out there. Michael K agreed. This is an important issue. There is little direct evidence so far, but that will change. I do not think his idea is consistent with the exponential growth timing. In any case, here we do have some small bit of direct evidence from serelogic testing in Germany
https://twitter.com/Gurdur/status/1248245914474409985
As he says, this cuts against YH's theory.
BBC America reports that the problem is a "legacy of slavery". BBC America is smarter than all of us.
The Brit paper (on their revised strategy) of a couple of weeks ago claimed that the low death-rates in Africa were most likely due to a shortage of old people in Africa.
A more informative news article would say something like "All 12 of the deaths were in people who had diabetes" or "All 12 of the deaths were in people more than 20 pounds overweight" -- something like that. (If that is true, and maybe it is).
I was watching an episode of Star Trek last night, and Kirk asks an alien why he killed some guy.
“I didn’t kill him! His imperfections killed him!”
What I'm not seeing answered is how many African Americans as a percentage were dying from the flu.
I'm curious as to how large of pool this virus has to kill out of, in other words, I'm guessing although I don't know and I could be wrong, that many of the people who died from this virus would have died from the flu in a normal year. I doubt that number is 2 million.
Probably about the same proportion of AA murder victims.
There is some statistical sleight of hand in this report if you are not familiar with the "City" of St. Louis as opposed to the County of St. Louis (or the combined metro St. Louis area in general). In 1876, the City separated itself from the surrounding county and while it was then the economic engine of the region, it stopped being that many decades ago. The City is substantially more minority demographically than the county and the region as a whole. Which is why when you see things like this (or crime stats, for another example), the specific marker of a City of St. Louis report means that while you're talking about St. Louis, you're really not talking about St. Louis as a whole, as the regions is lived in and experienced by the total community.
For comparison, City population is 318,000. Full metro STL population is 2,807,300.
African Americans may be more resistant, if not immune, to coronavirus because of their higher levels of melanin."
Now that I hear about the higher melanin levels, I'm suspecting that this conspiracy probably has its origins out of the Nation of Islam.
there's a belief out there that "African Americans may be more resistant, if not immune, to coronavirus because of their higher levels of melanin." I'm not surprised to see that, because the disease originated in China
You know, racism is like poison gas or biological warfare. It has a tendency to come back on the ones who use such weapons.
The higher incidence of COVID cases in the African-American community could be a sign of some pretty ugly racism within some elements of the African-American community itself, namely, anti-Asian bigotry that is spewed in some African-American circles and a melanin-level racial superiority ideology that has also been promoted by some.
Such racism within sections of the African-American community in certain areas -- that this is an Asian or white man's disease, together with this racial pride that looks suspect upon the light-skinned blacks -- could have led some to continue to socially congregate and thereby allow the virus to more easily spread.
One thing this probably shows is that Blacks are pretty consistent about staying in their own racial group to socialize and get intimate. The infection in such places was probably first introduced by Blacks to a Black community and never found it's way out. That seems like the logical interpretation of the data if you are not looking for something more nefarious.
Everybody got the same messages about staying at home, keeping your distance, washing your hands, and so on, but some people clearly believed the early false rumor and assumption that black people had some kind of melanin-based immunity to the virus. It was no secret the rumors were circulating and that health authorities did little to get in front of it and knock it down.
Dropped the Ball
Now we are paying the price for this insanity.
In situations like this, the messaging needs to be modified to speak to communities who may not otherwise "get" that the messages include them.
Simply put, we dropped the ball in the black community.
Had we developed a smarter message to African Americans, we may have prevented folks from going to ballroom dances, cop parties and pancake breakfasts.
We have no problem reaching black folk during elections, drilling home a message. We know how to market music, gym shoes and liquor specifically to the black community. We need to apply that same marketing, communications and public relations knowledge to this pandemic – Now!
By Greg Bowens
April 03, 2020, 4:46 PM
The author, a former Detroit News reporter and press secretary for Mayor Dennis Archer, is a local political and public relations consultant.
This may be the single most hilarious Trump tweet ever: "HAPPY GOOD FRIDAY EVERYBODY!"
Fifty bucks says Trump has no clue what Good Friday commemorates.
Browndog's clip is worth noting. I've stated in a previous comment that the reasons for the high rates of death in the black community are absolutely linked to poverty, but also to the culture of the community, including different streams of information. You see this in various US cities, from Detroit to New Orleans.
It's cultural born out of both heritage and poverty. The heritage part is the good and important part. The poverty is what knocks it off track. It changes who you listen to. Who you trust. Where you can buy groceries. IF you can buy groceries. What you read. IF you read. What you listen to. What you think about self-health. IF you think about self-health.
To help the urban communities, there would have to be a trusted stream of constant communication on this. But more than that, in the long term- how do you change a culture so badly mistreated for so many years that it's virtually broken, and is a different culture that runs alongside the mainstream? How do you get to the point where kids in the city can want to read and learn without being called out for 'acting white'? How do you get to the point of kids and young people not killing each other just to survive the week?
people who want to insert their racial politics into this pandemic can fuck right off.
"Diabetes, hypertension, obesity and asthma", exactly what killed Eric Garner, along with smoking, a criminally hostile attitude, and a love of donuts. Some of those things also killed his daughter.
I just wanted to say "Garner".
"This may be the single most hilarious Trump tweet ever: "HAPPY GOOD FRIDAY EVERYBODY!""
That's a hot take... As the day is literally named GOOD Friday, it is clearly a day that Christians have considered to be a happy one for millenia.
This may be the single most hilarious Trump tweet ever: "HAPPY GOOD FRIDAY EVERYBODY!"
Why? It's a pretty popular sentiment with various Christians. Well, unless Trump says it.
Perhaps he should've said "Unhappy Good Friday to All, and to All a Bad Night", but then he'd be accused of inverse plagiarism.
This idea of Black's immunity to COVID-19 is very much in line w/ the "thinking" of former NYU professor Leonard Jeffries. He divides the world into "Ice people" and "Sun people." His belief is that Black's levels of melanin provide them w/ intellectual, physical, and moral superiority over Whites. His theory doesn't seem to explain why blacks suffer higher levels of diabetes, hypertension, and obesity vs Whites. Or why Blacks seem much more susceptible to nonsense conspiracy theories.
Fifty bucks says Trump has no clue what Good Friday commemorates.
If YOU had any clue, Farmer, you would not be engaging in such spiteful mockery.
J. Farmer said...
This may be the single most hilarious Trump tweet ever: "HAPPY GOOD FRIDAY EVERYBODY!"
i JUST got off the phone, wishing my parents a Happy Good Friday, when i read this
From a LA Birthday Party on 3/28/2020 that the LAPD broke up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRVvMoEoItU
What I noticed:
1. No Social Distancing by African Americans in Video
2. LAPD had no masks
3. No one wore masks at all
So, Jesus descends into HELL, to Kick Satan's ASS; and allow SALVATION FOR US ALL...
And that (apparently) depresses Farmer J?
How do you get to the point where kids in the city can want to read and learn without being called out for 'acting white'? How do you get to the point of kids and young people not killing each other just to survive the week?
You start by bringing back shame, and rejecting thug culture.
Instead of glorifying those men who have multiple children with multiple mothers, you shame and shun them. You start demanding that men live up to their responsibilities, or you shame them and shun them. You demand that women start behaving responsibly when it comes to sex, or you shun them and shame them.
Find a true leader who can restore the role of religion to these communities instead of the hucksters (Jackson, Sharpton, Farrakhan et al) who have been exploiting them.
Change welfare regulations so that they encourage two parent homes rather than punish them.
Life will never improve in innercity communities until we restore the family.
J. Farmer said...
This may be the single most hilarious Trump tweet ever: "HAPPY GOOD FRIDAY EVERYBODY!"
Fifty bucks says Trump has no clue what Good Friday commemorates.
4/10/20, 12:11 PM
A swing and a miss, Farmer. That was a comment worthy of Ritmo.
There's a reason Christians call Good Friday good, you know.
Running the numbers here --
The exponential growth alarmists were telling us that we would see over 100 million positives in the U.S. by now. Worldometers is showing actual number today of 489,000.
For the past week, we've seen no real increase in the number of new cases per day. The rate of increase has stopped.
African-Americans? Maybe, by virtue of past treatments. Americans? Through innate, acquired, or inoculated immunity, or drugs that reduce the viability of SARS-CoV-2. Also, prudent and bold behavioral adaptions. That said, why the diversitist thought and allegations, Echols? We really need to mitigate progress and stop indulging color judgments.
The important takeaway from the Heinsberg, Germany study is this- RT-PCR testing identified less than 1 out of 25 truly infected. Now, Ken, apply this to the US data since you are so good at math.
"For the past week, we've seen no real increase in the number of new cases per day. The rate of increase has stopped."
I agree with your overall point, but let's be fair- RT-PCR testing has also mostly plateaued in the US. I keep having to point this out- new cases has been roughly proportional to the numbers of test run pretty much everywhere. It isn't possible to tease out a direction of infection rates in such a case, at least not yet.
within some elements of the African-American community itself, namely, anti-Asian bigotry that is spewed in some African-American circles
Fifty shades of Indigenous Americans, post-apartheid South Africa, Swaziland, and pretty much everywhere else.
Fifty-five years ago Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote:
"A community that allows a large number of young men to grow up in broken homes, dominated by women, never acquiring any stable relationship to male authority, never acquiring any rational expectations about the future -- that community asks for and gets chaos. Crime, violence, unrest, unrestrained lashing out at the whole social structure -- that is not only to be expected, it is very near to inevitable."
At the time Moynihan wrote those words 25% percent of black boys were growing up without their fathers in the home. In 2013, according to radio host Larry Elder, that figure was 75%.
Here in Los Angeles, LA Times reporters write story after story about the difficulties faced by single mothers with multiple children without ever asking "Where is the father?"
Gahrie said: "Life will never improve in inner city communities until we restore the family."
I agree. It's so broken now....so broken.
He divides the world into "Ice people" and "Sun people." His belief is that Black's levels of melanin provide them w/ intellectual, physical, and moral superiority over Whites. His theory doesn't seem to explain why blacks suffer higher levels of diabetes, hypertension, and obesity vs Whites.
I used to work with a black orthopedic surgeon in LA. I teased him about this after giving him a copy of "The 10,000 Year Explosion." The argument about skin pigment is that vitamin D required lighter skin pigmentation as humans moved out of Africa into latitudes that required clothing and which had seasons of low sunlight. I told him Farrakhan was right about sun people and ice people. He bought copies of the book for his daughters.
Paul... It is impolite to quote Moynihan when discussing race. That %25 looks wistfully attractive these days. Of course, that was when abortion was touted as for 'rape and incest' victims only. Slip slidin away.
A democrat prophet, superceded by Kennedies.
The Single Mother has, over the last half-century, grown to assume the role of cultural norm and arbiter, even role model. Who hasn't seen (before switching off in disgust eventually) the heart-tugging news segment about the mother of four (ex-wife of one, tops) working six jobs while her children thug and ho around in the background?
Broken doesn't begin to describe it.
Narr
My mother became a single parent the old fashioned way when my father died
AH reporter just now tries to accuse Trump of maliciously not taking steps to protect the Black community.
The premise of the question, of course, is that Blacks are little children that need protecting because they won't take the steps themselves.
AH reporter also takes SG to task, saying it is offensive, for daring to suggest that personal responsibility might be an issue in stopping the spread of the disease in the Black community.
SG says we need to squash the myth that Blacks cannot get the disease.
@GingerBeer, Professor Leonard Jeffries was at City University of New York (CUNY) not NYU.
There's a reason Christians call Good Friday good, you know.
You're obviously not familiar with the etymology of the term.
So, Jesus descends into HELL, to Kick Satan's ASS; and allow SALVATION FOR US ALL...
And that (apparently) depresses Farmer J?
Referring to something as "hilarious" is not exactly a sign that it depresses me.
@gilbar:
i JUST got off the phone, wishing my parents a Happy Good Friday, when i read this
That's a very bizarre formulation. Good Friday observances in Christianity are not celebratory in nature.
You're obviously not familiar with the etymology of the term.
Good Friday (n.)
"the Friday before Easter, c. 1300, from good (adj.) in Middle English sense of "holy, sacred," especially of holy days or seasons observed by the church; the word also was applied to Christmas and Shrove Tuesday. Good Twelfthe Dai (c. 1500) was Epiphany (the twelfth day after Christmas)."
Here's an old joke I just made up -
Q: What do you call 12 dead lawyers?
A: A start.
That was actually a meta-joke about whom you can and can't make jokes about. Purty fancy, huh?
Here's another old joke I just made up:
A three-masker; one for her, one for you, and one for your dog.
That was actually a meta-joke about whom you can and can't make jokes about. Purty fancy, huh?
Always resist the temptation to explain a joke. Norm Macdonald is the only person I've ever seen make a joke funnier by explaining it.
But you're certainly right about who is allowed to be made fun. It's amazing how even the gentlest mockery of Trump elicits such hysterical reactions from his fan base. This seem to see Trump as an end rather than a means. The fact that our politics has descended to this level of cult of personality, with Obama before and Trump now, is yet further evidence that we are on the down slope as a civilization.
On SNL, "After finishing a comedy bit about COVID-19 stealing the spotlight from Black History Month, Redd yelled over the applause, 'Black people can't get the coronavirus!'" I wonder if someone will ask NBC if they have blood on their hands.
Given the amount of Chinese investment in Africa it's surprising that the rates there aren't higher. On the other hand, I wouldn't expect accurate reporting from Africa and maybe the old people died a long time ago. Also, it is my understanding that sickle cell anemia is an adaptation that helps against malaria. If anti-malarial drugs are effective against coronavirus, I wonder if the adaptation helps against the virus too for a subset of the population.
Always resist the temptation to explain a joke.
You didn't see the joke about explaining the joke? Sad. I'm not sure who, but probably you.
You didn't see the joke about explaining the joke? Sad. I'm not sure who, but probably you.
Not finding something funny is not the same thing as not getting the joke. That's precisely why I said, "Norm Macdonald is the only person I've ever seen make a joke funnier by explaining it." A for effort, though.
Being a jerk isn't a joke, Farmer.
And you have already admitted to not being Christian, to knowing nothing about Christianity, and to believing that it is all a fiction.
Since you do not know what you are talking about, you really shouldn't presume to try to tell others about it.
You are simply being obnoxious.
Anthony Fauci listed the conditions that disproportionately afflict African Americans: "diabetes, hypertension, obesity and asthma."
He might well have added "...and being reluctant to go to the doctor when feeling ill."
Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course.
Clark: My apologies. Thank you.
@Mark:
And you have already admitted to not being Christian, to knowing nothing about Christianity, and to believing that it is all a fiction.
Well, you got two out of three right, though they're basically the same point just said two different ways. Of course, I have never "admitted...to knowing nothing about Christianity." I am fairly well versed in the topic and have certainly met many self-identified Christians less knowledgeable on the subject.
But by all means, please identify what I've gotten wrong. What incorrect point have I made about Christianity.
You are simply being obnoxious.
By all means, feel free to skip over any posts I make. I won't lose any sleep over it.
J. Farmer: I'll bet you a hundred bucks that he does.
Not that either of us is likely to have to pay off.
Lots of people use that expression, although as you note it could be taken as inappropriate (or not) by some Christians or others. (I am familiar with the etymology.)
Well, if you find Trump expressing himself in characteristic fashion hilarious in this instance, good for you. Life is short and full of sorrows, we have to get our funnies where we can.
@Phidippus:
J. Farmer: I'll bet you a hundred bucks that he does.
No way we'll know. Nothing about Trump's biography suggests to me that religion play an important life. It's possible his religiosity is a deeply personal matter, but his subsequent political career seems to cut against that interpretation. We know he had a relationship with Norman Peale, but he is hardly within the mainstream of Christianity.
Lots of people use that expression, although as you note it could be taken as inappropriate (or not) by some Christians or others. (I am familiar with the etymology.)
I'll take your word for it. I have never heard that phrase in my life and reading the tweet it struck me as absurd. Traditionally, Good Friday is observed with solemnity.
Well, if you find Trump expressing himself in characteristic fashion hilarious in this instance, good for you. Life is short and full of sorrows, we have to get our funnies where we can.
Indeed. Life is so full of sorrows, I don't actually think it's that big of a deal to laugh at a politician. Others, apparently, disagree.
According to this coronavirus health data site (https://covid19.healthdata.org/united-states-of-america), deaths in this country from the virus will peak on Good Friday and decline steadily after this Easter weekend until, by the beginning of June, they will will be down to almost none at all. A lot of Christians will find significance in this. And many lessons will be drawn from this in the months ahead.
I am fairly well versed in the topic and have certainly met many self-identified Christians less knowledgeable on the subject.
Fer shurr, fer shurr. What kind of Christian aren't you? That is, in what denomination were you raised/did you reject? Don't know many second-generation atheists. You're certainly not not-a-Catholic.
Mark said...
Running the numbers here --
The exponential growth alarmists were telling us that we would see over 100 million positives in the U.S. by now. Worldometers is showing actual number today of 489,000.
So assuming the model is correct...1/3 of the population is infected. Most, obviously, woukd be asymptomatic or trivially unwell. So the covid site https://g.co/kgs/62hXpv says US deaths today is 18,580
*3 = 55,740
So we should slide into home plate at under 60K deaths. Someone, Ken B?, was asking who has made accurate predictions. I called for a range of 15-60K if memory serves. The numbers will continue to improve as new and existing therapies are promoted and adopted.
@Nichevo:
Fer shurr, fer shurr. What kind of Christian aren't you?
Newsflash: you don't actually have to practice a religion to know something about it. I've never been a Greek pagan, either, but I can still discuss the cult of Pallas Athena.
I played football my freshman year in HS, and we didn't win a single game. I played both ways, as a lineman. I was the 3rd highest scorer on the team because of a single safety.
Newsflash: you don't actually have to practice a religion to know something about it. I've never been a Greek pagan, either, but I can still discuss the cult of Pallas Athena.
4/10/20, 7:22 PM
Yeah. And if you discussed the cult of Pallas Athena with a member, and the twobof you disagreed, the cult member would be wrong. Because you're just THAT well informed. I note you don't answer the question.
@Nichevo:
Yeah. And if you discussed the cult of Pallas Athena with a member, and the twobof you disagreed, the cult member would be wrong. Because you're just THAT well informed. I note you don't answer the question.
Except neither you nor Mark have actually identified anything you believe I've gotten wrong. What exactly about my characterization of Good Friday do you take issue with?
p.s. Not that it matters one iota to anything I've said, but my mother's family is Catholic, and my father's is Baptist and Pentecostal. Neither of my parents are religious, and growing up they basically identified as cultural Christians. My parents did not attend religious services, made no references to the Bible, and did not pray. My sisters and I were left to our own devices on religious matters. I went through a brief New Agey phase as a teenager but have identified as an atheist since I was about 18 or 19. If I had to put a label on it, I would say my parents were most probably deists.
"Instead of glorifying those men who have multiple children with multiple mothers, you shame and shun them. You start demanding that men live up to their responsibilities, or you shame them and shun them. You demand that women start behaving responsibly when it comes to sex, or you shun them and shame them."
aHaHaHaHaHa....
My sisters and I were left to our own devices on religious matters.
So you have no religious education or upbringing, you flitted about from nihilism to nihilism, yet your religious education and insight are superior to practicing religionists? From nothing, everything? Pity you didn't go into the sciences, surely we would have warp drive by now.
I mean, what, you pored over the religious tomes of the world (I'm sure you have equal supremacy in Judaic or Buddhist or Shinto studies, because why wouldn't you), all unmoved, for...the purpose of winning arguments?
@Nichevo:
So you have no religious education or upbringing, you flitted about from nihilism to nihilism, yet your religious education and insight are superior to practicing religionists? From nothing, everything? Pity you didn't go into the sciences, surely we would have warp drive by now.
I appreciate that you have a massive hard-on for me. Yet, you still haven't identified anything I've written here that you think is incorrect. Better luck next time, sweetheart.
I mean, what, you pored over the religious tomes of the world (I'm sure you have equal supremacy in Judaic or Buddhist or Shinto studies, because why wouldn't you), all unmoved, for...the purpose of winning arguments?
You tell me. You're the one who reads every single comment I write.
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