What better time to look in the rear view mirror than the year 2020.  And while some events, most notably the eight minute 46 second public execution of George Floyd was impossible to miss, others were less apparent.  But numbers do not lie.  During the past five months, four centuries of systemic racism have come together in a perfect storm of physical, economic and social destruction in minority communities across America.

While journalists and pundits have focused on the lasting symptoms of America’s racial history–a disproportionate share of COVID19 deaths among African-Americans, rising unemployment even as the economy shows some signs of recovery, excessive force by police or Donald Trump parroting 50 year-old racist memes–they target the WHATS without examining the WHYS.  Racial bias is a filter through which we all view our environment and which influences everyday decisions consciously or subconsciously.  Consider the following example, international travel policy in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

On January 31, 2020, Trump’s Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar announced a travel ban on flights to the United States from China.  Despite the fact 400,000 people from China entered the country during the month of January and another 30,000 were exempted from the ban, on its surface, the policy made sense since the virus originated in Wuhan, China.  Forty-one days later (March 12), Trump announced a travel restriction on 26 European nations, but exempted the United Kingdom and Ireland.  Two days later, the ban was extended to Great Britain.

What was the impact of the time frame in which the administration rolled out the travel restrictions?  Consider the following table, current as of 6:00 a.m. on June 8, 2020. (Source: Johns Hopkins University Hospital)

What do you notice about the top five ranked states?  They have airports–JFK, Newark, Logan, Philadelphia International and O’Hare–which service the most overwhelming majority of flights from Europe.  In contrast, California and Washington have the three airports–L.A. International, S.F. International and SeaTac–which are the initial U.S. destination for most inbound flights from China.  Most striking is the fact the first case of coronavirus in the United States was identified in Washington State yet it now has a fraction of the deaths reported in the top five states and California.

What does racism have to do with this disparity?  First, if you always refer to the coronavirus as the “China virus,” your first instinct is to focus on China regardless of what the data implies.  And exactly what would the data have told you if you had not followed your racist instinct?  First, the number of confirmed cases in Europe had been on the rise since February 22.  By the time Trump announced the restrictions on the first 26 European countries (March 12), the number of confirmed new daily cases had risen to 5,523.  By the time he added Great Britain (March 14), that same statistic had increased to 7,318.  Keep in mind, those confirmed cases may have included individuals who had been coronavirus carriers for 7-10 days prior to the appearance of any symptoms and could have had contact with individuals already in the United States or headed that way.

Weeks prior to March 12, data affirmed the virus was no longer confined to Wuhan or China as a whole.  It had already become a global pandemic.  But the second data point may be more relevant.  And since Donald Trump prefers visual aids, I wonder if his national security team showed him the following snapshot of air traffic on a typical pre-pandemic day.

Compare the number of overseas flights approaching the west coast and those heading to the five major airports in the Northeast and Midwest.  Airports in cities with large minority populations who are now paying the price of Trump’s witting or unwitting racial preference for those who look more like he does.

Yes, the virus originated in China, but it’s gateway of choice to America was via Europe.  Like a broken clock, Trump gets it right once in a while.  During an April 10 press briefing, Trump said, “The virus is so brilliant, the antibiotics can’t keep up with it.”  That’s not  the only thing that couldn’t keep up with it.  It remembered Trump had once said he preferred immigrants from countries like Norway and used that bias to its advantage.  For an administration that has made a living misdirecting the American public to follow the shiny object, the virus knew Trump’s eye would be drawn to China, leaving the right flank wide open, open to those invaders from countries more like Norway.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP