Race is not the reason Black Americans have a higher risk of dying from the coronavirus. It's racism. [businessinsider.com]

• Across the US, people of color are more likely to contract a dangerous case of the coronavirus, ending up in critical care, or dying from COVID-19.
• Much has been made of the pre-existing conditions that undergird this racial disparity, such as higher rates of diabetes, asthma, lung disease, hypertension, and obesity in communities of color.
• But the truth is that people of color are not naturally more likely to develop these conditions, or the coronavirus, but they are far more often subjected to health-affecting hardships than whites.
• A government report in the UK found "historic racism and poorer experiences of healthcare or at work" put people of color at a higher risk of dying from the coronavirus. Experts told Business Insider the same is true in the US.

The coronavirus is killing a disproportionate share of Black and brown Americans, especially young ones.

As of June 6, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated that Black Americans aged 35-44 years old are 10 times more likely to die from COVID-19 (the illness caused by the coronavirus) than their white counterparts. Latinx people in the same age bracket are eight times more likely to die than whites.

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