Black residents have died from COVID-19 at nearly 6 times the rate of white residents in D.C.

It's been widely reported that Black Americans are dying at a higher rate than white Americans from the coronavirus, but the disparity is particularly pronounced in the nation's capital, American Public Media reports.

The fatality rate among Washington, D.C.'s Black residents is 5.9 times higher than for white residents, the largest gap among the nation's big cities. It's double the difference in Chicago, triple New Orleans, and nearly quadruple Detroit's, all major cities that have clear disparities, per APM.

D.C. also has one one of the bigger separations between the percentage of Black residents and the percentage of Black fatalities. While Black residents make up 46 percent of the city's population, they account for 74 percent of COVID-19 deaths. Fulton County in Georgia, which is home to Atlanta, is the only large city with a more severe gap by that measure, APM notes.

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A lot of the causes were likely always present in the city, and came to the forefront when the pandemic hit — Stephen Thomas, a professor of health policy and management at the University of Maryland said the only thing surprising about the racial data across the United States is "that people are surprised." But, APM reports D.C.'s government was slow to act in various situations, as well. For example, residents in predominantly Black neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River lacked an easily accessible, free coronavirus testing site, and the closest one was only open for four hours a day, three days a week — and it closed within two months. Read more at American Public Media.