COVID – 19

African American Population

Alicen Sennett, RN

7/24/2020

Community and Population Health

 The African American population has unfortunately struggled through-out the years with

being an at-risk population. In the presence of this pandemic dealing with Coronavirus, African

Americans once again find themselves as an at-risk population. Coronavirus also frequently

referred to as COVID-19 is a respiratory illness that has been recently identified. This newly

discovered infectious disease has spread rapidly through out the world from human to human

contact (Coronavius,2020). According to statistics about one in every 2,000 African Americans

have died from COVID-19 (Black Americans dying of Covid-19, 2020). African Americans are

at-risk for a number of different reasons, it is easiest to break it into groups and examine. African

Americans are at risk because of health circumstances, working conditions, as well as living

conditions. This population is known to have chronic conditions such as diabetes, lung disease,

and heart disease (Coronavirus and COVID-19: Who is at higher risk?, 2020). It was reported

that approximately 90% of patients who were severely ill and hospitalized with COVID-19 also

reported at lease one of these medical conditions (Coronavirus and COVID-19: Who is at higher

risk?,2020)These underlying medical conditions put this population more at risk because their

bodies are already functioning at a less that optimal role. Another point to bring up is that, this is

all if the patient is effectively managing their underlying conditions. The CDC reports that
African Americans are twice as likely to be uninsured than whites (Racial and Ethnic Minority

Groups 2020). If this population is not adequately insured, they are less likely to seek medical

attention if symptoms of COVID-19 arise. During this pandemic, many jobs have been shut

down or hours have been decreased. This leads to an increased risk for African Americans

because many times they are essential workers. The ones who remained employed during this

time are at risk, because they are still currently working and possibly being exposed to

undiagnosed cases of COVID-19. Another dissatisfier in the system, is many times workers do

not have sick time available to them, so they may be reluctant to report any symptoms (Racial

and Ethnic Minority Groups 2020). Multigenerational households are quite common with

African American populations putting them at risk for spread of infection. This population is also

known to live in densely populated areas and may have to rely on public transportation due to

location which places them at a higher risk (Racial and Ethnic Minority Groups 2020). The

Affordable Health Care Act is one of the biggest policies affecting this population. Since many

individuals within this population are uninsured, the Affordable Care Act offers them the

opportunity to obtain health insurance. Before the Affordable Care Act was put into place,

millions of Americans were uninsured. After the Act was implemented 2.8 million African

Americans were able to obtain Health Insurance (Taylor, 2020).

Nurses role is ever changing but always consist of assessing, educating, and providing. In

this scenario, as a nurse this population was assessed for why they are at risk, what they are at

risk for and previous history. Next educating the patients on risk factors, health conditions, and

preventative measures. Last providing the patient with resources such as education materials,

supplies, testing sites, or further health assistance. Some preventative measures that have been
outlined is proper hand hygiene, social distancing and wearing a mask. There has also been

numerous shutdowns, mandates, and reopening phases throughout the states.

Some barriers that this population may suffer from is educational needs and resources

available. Some recommendations to help address these issues would be to offer more

community resources. With this recommendation, there could be more awareness post such as

flyers, bulletins, and brochures, as well as more health fairs or opportunities to address the public

and educate. Another helpful thing would be to have more resources available such as low-cost

walk-ins, testing sites, and hotlines for people to address their concerns at.

A few SMART goals for this population would be to increase education of about COVID

19, risk factors, preventative measures, and resources available.

One resource that is available during this time that was mention above is the ACA. This

resource allows for the uninsured to apply and get insurance during this time. Some states have

opted to allow people to sign up at anytime even though it is not the “open enrollment” period. In

Delaware, there is assistance to help provide meals to vulnerable populations. During this

pandemic in Milford, Delaware alone there has been multiple locally owned businesses who

have supplied families with free meals with no questions asked. State wise there is also

unemployment benefits for those who have lost their jobs. Lastly, there is a hotline 2-1-1 that is

an automated system set up that can direct for food services, health care assistance, or COVID 19

updates.

As stated, before the three biggest concerns with the African American population are

living conditions, preexisting conditions, and work conditions. The most important thing that can

occur is education. Educating this population about how to social distance and decreasing the

spread of infection while living in a multigenerational house or while still going to work. An
intervention would be to social distance themselves in one area of the house while not sharing

utensils or the same bathroom. Preexisting conditions can be a concern especially if they are not

well controlled, so it is an intervention to make sure patients are educated on proper diabetic

care, hypertension, or lung disease. Educating or signs and symptoms of COVID-19, who to

report it to, and when to seek medical attention is also another important intervention.

In order to evaluate these interventions, follow up care is needed. It can be measured

statistically if these interventions are working if the number of African American COVID 19

cases decrease. It could also be measured by looking at the number of reported symptoms, and

having a primary care managing the preexisting conditions.

 References

Black Americans dying of Covid-19 at three times the rate of white people. (2020, May 20).

Retrieved July 24, 2020, from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/20/black-

americans-death-rate-covid-19-coronavirus

Coronavirus. (2020). Retrieved July 24, 2020, from https://www.who.int/health-

topics/coronavirus

Coronavirus and COVID-19: Who is at higher risk? (2020, April 11). Retrieved July 24, 2020,

from https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-

diseases/coronavirus/coronavirus-and-covid19-who-is-at-higher-risk

Racial and Ethnic Minority Groups. (2020). Retrieved July 24, 2020, from

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/racial-ethnic-

minorities.html

Taylor, J. (2020, May 07). Racism, Inequality, and Health Care for African Americans.

Retrieved July 24, 2020, from https://tcf.org/content/report/racism-inequality-health-care-

african-americans/?agreed=1