Washington, D.C.'s coronavirus data reveals overwhelming proportion of deaths among black residents


Washington, D.C., has become yet another example of how coronavirus is disproportionately affecting black Americans.
More than 700,000 people live in the nation's capital, about 46 percent of them black and 42 percent of them white. And yet white residents of D.C. have only made up about 11 percent of COVID-19 deaths in the city, while black residents account for 79 percent, data released by the city on Thursday reveal.
When it comes to coronavirus testing, 47 percent of people in Washington, D.C., who've tested positive for the disease have been black, the data shows. That about matches the black population in the city, and yet only 16 percent of positive tests have come from white D.C. residents.
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Washington, D.C. is still seemingly approaching its peak of the coronavirus pandemic. Nineteen deaths from COVID-19 were reported Thursday, matching the city's highest one-day death count. A total of 304 people in D.C. have been reported dead of COVID-19, 241 of them black, the data shows.
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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
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