Monkeypox is Disproprotionately Affecting People of Color
The Biden administration declared monkeypox a public health emergency on Thursday, but during the 40-minute media call for that announcement, federal officials never mentioned the virus’s disproportionate impact on Black Americans.
It’s an absence that harks back to the first weeks of the coronavirus when, in the spring of 2020, Black people were dying at exceptional rates with little acknowledgement from government leaders.
As monkeypox cases topped 7,100 nationwide this week, data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that Black Americans — along with Hispanic Americans — are bearing the brunt of the outbreak. More than a quarter of monkeypox cases in the U.S. have infected Black people — double the rate expected given their population.
In late May, as the outbreak took hold in the U.S., Black Americans made up 12% of all new cases. By mid-July, that proportion had jumped to 31%, according to CDC data. For white Americans, the proportion dropped from half of all monkeypox cases to less than 40% during the same time periods.
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