Beverly Payne, Dr. Ericka Hayes, Donn Johnson, Dr. Kendra Holmes and Virvus Jones

Beverly Payne, Dr. Ericka Hayes, Donn Johnson, Dr. Kendra Holmes and Virvus Jones

According to a recent report from the St. Louis County Department of Public Health, although heart disease and cancer remained the top two leading causes of death, COVID-19 was the third leading cause of death in 2020. 

The report data also shows that as the virus surged, it further exposed the deep inequities between health outcomes for African American residents versus their white counterparts.

Spring Schmidt, deputy director of St. Louis County Public Health Department, reiterated that health disparities increased the negative health outcomes of African American County residents.

“Unfortunately, we have been reporting that Black county residents have faced health outcome disparities for years, and we have been talking to different people in different industries to get to some root causes,” Schmidt said.

“There were disparities that were present in our community before COVID ever started, and COVID not only exacerbated that, but also exposed how severe some of those changes could be.”

African American residents died of COVID-19 at 2.4 times the rate of white residents, which accounts for 54 percent of total years of potential life lost due to the virus in the County, according to report data. Those in Outer North and Inner North subregions of the county and those living in high neighborhood poverty levels had the highest COVID-19 mortality rates as well.

Among those who died from COVID-19, chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and hypertension were prevalent, indicating that individuals with these conditions are at a greater risk from the virus — illnesses that already disproportionately impact Black residents across the country. 

“We have seen the disparities in heart disease, some cancers and other types of disease in the early cause of death reports before, but for COVID to suddenly become as the third leading cause of death in nine months in comparison to other diseases has come as a shock, but it just underscores how much work still needs to be done,” Schmidt said.

As a result of increase of deaths due to COVID-19, overall life expectancy declined by 2.3 years in St. Louis County in 2020. 

“There are several factors that account for this disparity including general access to care, a disproportionate number of conditions, and majority of Black residents worked essential jobs which required them to be in front of the population, which exposed them to the virus,” Schmidt said.

A decline in life expectancy was observed across all groups; however, there were stark disparities in the magnitude of the decline by race, with the greatest decline observed among African American women (-3.9 years) followed by Black/African American men (-3.4 years).

Schmidt went on to talk about how institutionalized racism plays a role in the disparities.

“There could be other factors of institutionalized racism in the world that disproportionately affects African Americans that are not based upon their jobs or health conditions but continue to play out in poorer health outcomes,” Schmidt said. “These are harder to quantify but important to recognize.”

“It will take a community approach to address these root causes, and by root causes, I mean we have to focus on housing as health, transportation as health, and other social determinants,” Schmidt said.

COVID-19 killed 1,310 residents accounting for 11% percent of all deaths in St. Louis County in 2020. 

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