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Maine Public Health Data Reports - Health Disparities
Race and Ethnicity (2002): African Americans experience: Infant mortality rates more than twice that of whites; Death rates from heart disease more than 40% higher that of whites; Death rates from cancers 30% higher than that of whites; Prostate cancer death rates more than twice that of whites; Higher death rates from breast cancer despite mammography rates being similar; Death rates from diabetes almost 30% higher than that of whites; Death rates from HIV/AIDS more than seven times that of whites; Death rates from homicide six times more than that of whites, making it either the leading or second leading cause of death for black males ages 1–44 years (leading cause in the 15–34-year-old age group); At birth, the average life expectancy for African Americans is 72 years compared to over 77 years for whites. Black males have the lowest life expectancy of all Americans: 68 years, compared with 75 years for white men. Life expectancy for black women is 75 years, compared with 80 years for white women.
National
Disparities in Health and Health Care: Five Key Questions and Answers
Alarming Racial Differences in Maternal Mortality: In the United States, black women are 2 to 6 times more likely to die from complications of pregnancy than white women.
Racial and Ethnic Health Care Disparities: “According to the US Census Bureau, in 2013, 25 percent of Hispanics, 11 percent of persons of Asian descent, and 27 percent of African Americans lived in poverty while only 12 percent of Caucasians lived in poverty.[10] Moreover, the more impoverished one is, the more likely it is that one cannot afford health insurance.”
Disparities and access to healthy food in the United States: A review of food deserts literature: “Previous studies found that predominantly Black neighborhoods have fewer supermarkets compared to predominantly White neighborhoods (Metro Chicago Information Center, 2008; Morland et al., 2002b). In an examination of the associations between the availability of food stores in the US and race, ethnicity and socioeconomic status, Powell et al. (2007) found that the availability of chain supermarkets in Black neighborhoods was only 52% that of their White counterpart.” Unequal access to grocery stores that provide healthy foods leaves many communities turning to unhealthy and nutrition-deprived options.
Why Health Care Is Different If You're Black, Latino Or Poor: “The foundation estimates Latinos and African-Americans experience 30 to 40 percent poorer health outcomes than white Americans. This disparity leads not only to shortened lives and increased illness, but also costs the nation more than $60 billion in lost productivity each year.”
COVID-19-specific racial data
The Fullest Look Yet at the Racial Inequity of Coronavirus: In Cumberland County, for every 10,000 people, 195 who contract the virus are black, while 21 are white.
“Latino and African-American residents of the United States have been three times as likely to become infected as their white neighbors, according to the new data, which provides detailed characteristics of 640,000 infections detected in nearly 1,000 U.S. counties. And Black and Latino people have been nearly twice as likely to die from the virus as white people, the data shows.”
Othering & Belonging Institute Racial Disparities Interactive Map
CDC Cases in the US highlight the racial disparities in infection rates. See chart to the right.
COVID-19 Race Data tracker has indicated that Black Americans are dying at a rate that is nearly two times higher than their population share. Check out the tracker to see the breakdown of data. FOR MAINE: With 86% of its cases reported, over 20% of the COVID-19 cases in Maine have been among the Black community, while this same community only makes up 1% of the entire population.
What Do Coronavirus Racial Disparities Look Like State By State?: Check out the section “Deaths and Cases Disproportionately Affect African Americans In Most States” and select Maine.
Pew Research Center: Black Americans face higher COVID-19 risks, are more hesitant to trust medical scientists, get vaccinated: “Black Americans have been hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak, accounting for a disproportionate share of COVID-19 deaths. At the same time, they stand out from other racial and ethnic groups in their attitudes toward key health care questions associated with the outbreak. In particular, black adults are more hesitant to trust medical scientists, embrace the use of experimental medical treatments and sign up for a potential vaccine to combat the illness, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. Nationally, black Americans account for about 13% of the U.S. population but 24% of the coronavirus deaths for which racial or ethnic information was available as of June 2, according to The COVID Tracking Project.”
How The Crisis Is Making Racial Inequality Worse: A report from NPR reports an even more shocking statistic that Black Americans are three times more likely to die from COVID-19 than are White Americans. “What we found in the aftermath of these events, inequality was higher on a whole host of measures," says Jonathan Ostry, an IMF official who co-authored the study.
COVID-19’s Impact on People in Prison: “Nationwide, the known infection rate for Covid-19 in jails and prisons is about 2½ times higher than in the general population. More than 44,000 incarcerated people and staff have coronavirus infections and 462 have died. Seven of the 10 largest outbreaks in the country have been at correctional facilities, including two Ohio prisons—Marion Correctional Institution, with 2,439 cases, and Pickaway Correctional Institution, with 1,791 cases. Widespread testing at a federal prison in Lompoc, California, has revealed another large cluster of 1,020 cases. Nearly 70% of people incarcerated at Federal Correctional Institution Lompoc tested positive.”
Among the reasons COVID-19 is worse for black communities: Police violence: learn about the complexities and dangers of being Black and wearing a mask during the pandemic and the impact of policing on the physical and mental health of those in Black communities.
CDC, cases of COVID-19 in the US broken down by race
