COVID-19 and African Americans in NYC: Tough Times, Tough Measures - Essay Sample

Introduction

I wonder how covid-9 affects African Americans in New York City. A proponent once said that tough times call for tough measures. In essence, it is believed that people cannot actually bury the dead at this tough time. In African American culture, people do meet during funeral times (Cummins et al., 2015). With the emergence of COVID-9, the public gathering is discouraged as social distancing is maintained. People are discouraged from storing the corpse for a longer time, as the government has instructed quick burial. African Americans in New York movements are restricted as the city is locked down. In other words, it would be difficult to attend any funeral of relatives and friends. With the restriction of movement and curfew, people can hardly gather at night to console the survivors or bereaved. COVID-19 pandemic has not only affected their culture but their religion. Thus, based on the COVID-19 epidemic, African Americans can hardly perform rituals to the dead.

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In New York City, the blacks have registered the highest severity of COVID-19 complication and death. African Americans are 2.4 times more likely to contract COVID-19 as compared to whites ("It's not obesity. It's slavery," 2020). One of the factors that explain the reason they are more likely to acquire Coronavirus is that they are unduly obese. For that reason, they are highly exposed to chronic diseases. From this perspective, African Americans are at higher risk of facing severe complications from Coronavirus. Although the claim is fueled by the media, the scientist has not proved the link between COVID-19 and obesity. Some researchers have supported that they are more likely to contract COVID-19 based on their pleasures, such as drinking and eating.

African American culture has been affected in terms of clothing (Cummins et al., 2015). Today, every person, including those who did not cover their faces to wear facemasks. African Americans have been imprisoned by wearing face masks. The Federal and the local government have insisted that people walking on the street should be clothed with face masks. Before the pandemic, it was difficult to find any group of African Americans wearing face masks at odd times. Wearing face masks, especially to those working in hard labor fields or construction industries, have face breathing problems.

COVID-19 has affected sports one of the activities loved by most African American culture (Cummins et al., 20150. African Americans, especially the youth, like to play on the street and local recreation centers. The rise of COVID-19 has affected all forms of gathering, including organized sports (Schmitt-Grohé et al., 2020). Even though the game is likely to resume in New York City, the fans are unlikely to be in attendance. For that reason, COVID-19 has affected African Americans who fancy watching games at the stadium.

In New York, African Americans, unlike the other races, have lost most of their jobs. The emergence of COVID-19 has affected all kinds of public gatherings. Thus, it implies that jobs that required face-to-face meetings such as churches, theater, restaurants, and hotels had to be shut-down to prevent the spread of Coronavirus (Schmitt-Grohé et al., 2020). Ideally, African Americans are the majority of people working in those sites. People are discouraged from attending these places because they are more likely to infect. Since most African Americans still use public means of transport, they are affected since, as the number of passengers reduced based on social distancing, they are spending much on carriers unlike before. Even though some places like supermarkets and restaurants operate during the day, most African Americans working on those organizations are highly exposed to contract COVID-19.

In African American culture, feasting is one of the celebrations conducted as a form of unity. Feasting may be in the ways of artists meeting together for awards and family get together (Cummins et al., 2015). With the emergence of COVID-19, most of the festivals and feasting parties have been discouraged with strict observation of social distance. All public feasting in New York City is discouraged, including house partying like birthdays, dinner at taverns, and all forms of entertainment.

African Americans are more likely to contract Coronavirus since they live in more densely populated areas in New York City. African Americans are twice more likely to have a non-fatal hospitalization as compared to the whites (ABC News, 2020). At a densely populated settlement, they have limited access to proper health care. However, they can hardly afford good houses since they are overrepresented in the service position. With the rise of COVID-19, African Americans can barely pay rents and, at the same time, fend for their families.

Conclusion

In conclusion, one of the factors that explain the reason African Americans are more likely to acquire Coronavirus is that they are unduly obese. For that reason, they are highly exposed to chronic disease. African Americans are twice more likely to have a non-fatal hospitalization as compared to the whites. African culture has been affected by restricting public gatherings based on social distancing. Thus, restaurants, sports, and hotels have been affected, leading to low-income. All public feasting has been discouraged, such as birthdays and burying of the dead.

References

ABC News. (2020, April 17). Black people in NYC twice as likely to die from COVID as white people: Data. https://abcnews.go.com/US/black-people-nyc-die-covid-white-people-data/story?id=70208362

Cummins, N., Kelly, M., & Ó Gráda, C. (2015). Living standards and plague in London, 1560-1665. The Economic History Review, 69(1), 3-34. https://doi.org/10.1111/ehr.12098

It's not obesity. It's slavery. (2020, May 25). The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/25/opinion/coronavirus-race-obesity.html

Schmitt-Grohé, S., Teoh, K., & Uribe, M. (2020). COVID-19: Testing inequality in New York City. https://doi.org/10.3386/w27019