Covid-19 and Climate Change Are Killing Black Women
Climate change impacts how the disease spreads, and racism affects how Black women are treated
Ask me about my last visit to the emergency room as a Black woman, and I can tell you the story of how I left the hospital more traumatized and in worse shape than when I arrived seeking help. Similar stories could be told by countless women of color around the world.
As the coronavirus pandemic throws seemingly countless inequities into light, much of the world is witnessing the overlap in the fight for health, climate, gender, and racial justice. More women are visiting the hospital due to the coronavirus — and more cases of explicit gender and racial bias in health care are surfacing.
Nearly half of the medical care in the United States happens in emergency rooms, with minorities and women accounting for the majority of visits. While over 70% of Covid-19 pregnancies are Latina and Black women in Illinois alone, the Covid-19 crisis is putting pregnant women at a higher risk of being hospitalized and admitted to the ICU to be placed on a ventilator.
Race and ethnicity could be deciding factors in who lives or dies under Covid-19.
