Doctors Are Concerned That Black Communities Might Not Be Getting Access To Coronavirus Tests

[Judi Lynn]

Approval for testing for COVID-19 is particularly vulnerable to implicit biases, doctors say.

Picture of Nidhi Prakash
Nidhi Prakash
BuzzFeed News Reporter
Posted on March 22, 2020, at 11:13 a.m. ET

A group of doctors in Virginia is calling for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization to release information about whether black communities are being left behind as the shortage of coronavirus tests continues in the US.

They’re concerned that black communities and other underserved groups might be disproportionately missing out on getting tested for COVID-19, in the absence of data breaking down who’s been tested so far by race and ethnicity.

“We know in the US that there are great discrepancies in not only the diagnosis but the treatment that African Americans and other minorities are afforded. So I want to make sure that in this pandemic, that black and brown people are treated in the same way and that these tests are made available in the same pattern as for white people,” said Dr. Ebony Hilton, an associate professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Virginia.

Currently, the CDC’s coronavirus information site says a total of 66,371 people across the US have been tested for the virus. The latest data on the site says there are 15,219 confirmed cases nationally. The data provided by the CDC does not include a breakdown of who’s been tested by demographics. Johns Hopkins University’s database, which pulls data from global, national, and state-level reporting, says there are more than 26,000 confirmed cases in the US, but doesn’t include statistics on testing.

More:
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/nidhiprakash/coronavirus-tests-covid-19-black

[beachbumbob]

1. realistically testing is of ZERO use now

[Igel]

5. Gives us the same information it would have weeks ago.

It was fairly useless for containment then, and never has been of much use in treatment.

It's worth noting that this really depends where you are. If you're in an area and there are 0 deaths it's likely that there's a really low incidence. If there are 50, it's long out of the bag.

It's also worth noticing the positive/total ratio, that tells you something about prevalence, as well. If 2% of the sick being tested are ill with COVID, that's one thing--the test is skewed towards over-sampling the population with SARS-CoV-2; if 25%, it's it shows that there's a real problem, unless there's evidence that the test is reserved for the sickest of the sick.

[beachbumbob]

6. 4-6 weeks ago it could have helped with containment, now its up death statistic rates

[Mister Ed]

2. If only they could all be senators.

Then they'd get their tests on demand, and on the double.

[comradebillyboy]

3. So far it seems only high ranking Republicans and

some celebrities are getting tested.I am probably mistaken but that's how it looks.

[tulipsandroses]

4. When Americans get the cold, Blacks get the flu. In this case, I think in the end there

will probably more dire consequences as usual for blacks. There was even some quack that said black skin is immune.