数说评论丨新冠肺炎死亡率凸显美国种族不平等

Down in Starrett City — a neighborhood with a majority of Black and brown residents in Brooklyn, New York — people are mourning for hundreds of lives lost to COVID-19. 

纽约布鲁克林的小星城，是黑人和棕色人种的聚集地。在这里，人们正为数以百计的死于新冠肺炎的居民而哀悼。

With a soaring infection rate and the highest death rate in New York, Starrett City evokes a thorny question: if the coronavirus does not discriminate based on race, why are minorities disproportionately dying?

随着感染率的飙升，小星城成为纽约州死亡率最高的地区。它引发了一个颇具讽刺意味的问题：如果不同种族感染新冠病毒的概率是一样的，那为什么少数族裔的死亡率并不成比例？

According to the latest U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, the Non-Hispanic Black community makes up 12.5 percent of the population and 19.1 percent of COVID-19 deaths. And the death rate in the Hispanic community, who make up 18.5 percent of Americans, is 20.1 percent.

美国疾病预防控制中心的最新报告显示，非西班牙裔黑人仅占全美人口的12.5%，然而在新冠肺炎致死者之中，黑人占比高达19.1%。同样在美国全国人口中，拉丁裔的占比为18.5%，然而20.1%的新冠肺炎致死者是拉丁裔。

So, why are some minority groups in the U.S. more likely to contract COVID-19 and die from it? Is it because they are not wearing masks or don’t follow social distancing? Or is it because they are more likely to be obligated to go to work because remote employment is not an option? 

那么，为什么新冠肺炎对少数族裔尤为致命？难道是因为他们没有戴口罩，或者没有保持社交距离，还是因为他们不得不外出工作，并没有权利选择在家远程办公？ 

U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics suggest Black people are more likely to hold jobs in the medical sector and service industries, which have greater exposure to COVID-19 and can’t be done online.

美国劳工统计局的数据显示，黑人更有可能在医疗领域工作或者从事服务行业，他们通常不能在线办公，这加大了他们感染新冠肺炎的风险。

People serving in healthcare settings are more likely to have contact with confirmed COVID-19 patients. Data shows that 37.2 percent of nursing, psychiatric and home health aides are Black. In times when hospitals are under-resourced and understaffed, many of them still jeopardize their lives to fight against COVID-19.

在医疗机构工作的人，更可能接触到新冠肺炎患者。数据显示，37.2%的护理以及家庭保健助手等都是黑人。当医院设备不足或者人手不够时，他们当中的很多人仍然冒着生命危险抗击新冠肺炎。

In addition, 35.8 percent of postal service clerks are Black. Like other front-line workers, they cannot work from home. Especially in this election year, more than 90 million people chose to vote by mail, putting postal workers at a high risk of virus exposure. Besides, Black people account for 29.5 percent of taxi drivers and chauffeurs. As long as the taxi companies are still operating, drivers, seating in a confined space with unknown passengers, are on the edge of contracting the virus. 

此外，35.8%的邮政服务人员是黑人。和其他的需要在一线工作的人一样，他们不能居家办公。尤其在大选年，有9000多万人选择邮寄方式来投票，这增加了邮局一线人员感染病毒的风险。此外，美国有29.5%的汽车司机是黑人。只要出租车公司还在运营，坐在密闭空间内搭载陌生乘客的司机就属于易感病毒的高危人群。

The race gap in deaths is also reflected among age groups. Among people aged between 25 and 54, the prime of their working lives, Non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic death rates are much higher than those of whites. 

不同种族间的死亡差异，同样体现在不同年龄段中。在25-54岁的就业适龄人口中，非西班牙裔黑人和拉丁裔美国人的死亡率要远远高于白人。

On top of working conditions, pre-existing diseases are a major reason behind racial disparities in COVID-19 complications and deaths. For example, people with diabetes are more likely to have serious symptoms if they are infected with any virus. CDC data indicates that Hispanics and Non-Hispanic Black people are more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes, which makes patients more vulnerable to hospitalization and death. 

除了工作环境之外，某些基础疾病也导致了死亡率的种族差异。例如，糖尿病患者在感染病毒之后容易出现严重的症状。美国疾控中心数据显示，拉丁裔和非西班牙裔黑人更有可能患有糖尿病，他们更可能被送进医院，甚至死亡。

Factors such as inadequate insurance coverage and poor access to healthcare are additional barriers that hinder minorities from affording and receiving appropriate medical treatment in the U.S.

保险覆盖面不足和获得医疗保健的机会不足等因素，也阻碍了少数族裔在美国获得适当的医治。

Health inequality is part of racial inequality. This global crisis sheds a brighter light on America’s broken healthcare system and long-standing racial disparities. As we know, the virus does not discriminate, but the death toll tells us that people — and the systems they create — do.

健康不平等是种族不平等的一部分，这场全球危机清晰地暴露了美国医疗体系的缺陷，和长期存在的种族歧视。正如我们所知，病毒不会歧视人。但死亡人数告诉我们，歧视人的是人们自己，以及他们建立的制度。

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