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

An empty D.C. Metro Station
(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

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.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Kathryn Krawczyk

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.