I’m starting to wonder if there really is a racial disparity. You’d think this board would be all over the issue. Perhaps black deaths are ok in order to fix the underlying social issues. (Not my position BTW)
Look at the average white non-Hispanic male income of $36,785 vs. Black income, which is $23,738. Better jobs mean health coverage and the money to cover costs not taken care of by insurance. It means better senior facilities and better retirement care. COVID-19 disparities aren’t a separate and new problem, they just illustrate a problem that has existed all along.
The problem seems to be that the disparity isn’t obviously explained. Income and access to healthcare may have a small effect. Higher incidence of comorbidities is clearly important, but is not true across the world. Vitamin D looks like it maybe a factor. But as described in other threads, there are other puzzling questions. It isn’t impossible that there is a significant genetic component. The question of ACE2 receptors comes up as well.
There is a very significant disparity of deaths of males over females. The board isn’t all over that either. But it is very real. Again, it isn’t clear why it should be so.
If the racial link was clearly socio-economic in origin it would be easy. But it doesn’t look as if it is. It isn’t just an issue in the USA. Vitamin D is coupled to skin colour. But it looks as if there are significant questions that are not related to a person’s colour.
Personally I suspect there is a very real genetic component that will eventually come to light. The racial disparities are not just black/white.