Television mogul Oprah Winfrey is addressing how coronavirus is having a disproportionate impact on black Americans in an installment of her “Oprah Talks COVID-19” web series.
“It’s not only ravaging our community, but people who have preexisting conditions, which I think people didn’t hear that,” Winfrey said on Today, promoting her Apple+ coronavirus episode that’s set to debut Tuesday night. “So if you are taking medication for your diabetes, if you’re taking medication because of hypertension, if you need an asthma inhaler for asthma, if you have any kind of lung disorder.”
COVID-19 is having a deadly impact on the African-American community. I’ll be talking with leaders, doctors, journalists, & REAL people suffering in this pandemic. Hope y’all can join me for this discussion tomorrow 4/14 at 11 PM EST on @OWNTV & streaming for free on @AppleTV. pic.twitter.com/L2nSJQ782x
— Oprah Winfrey (@Oprah) April 13, 2020
Indeed, blacks Americans run the risk of suffering from an array of the comorbidities that cause complications for coronavirus positive people. “African Americans and Native Americans develop high blood pressure at much younger ages, and it’s less likely to be under control, and does greater harm to their organs,” said Surgeon General Jerome Adams. “Puerto Ricans have higher rates of asthma and black boys are three times as likely to die of asthma as their white counterparts. As a matter of fact, I’ve been carrying around an inhaler in my pocket for 40 years out of fear of having a fatal asthma attack. And I hope that showing you this inhaler shows little kids with asthma all across the country that they can grow up to be Surgeon General one day.”
Adams told Breitbart News that fewer black and Hispanic Americans hold jobs that allow them to telework and are also likely being overly harmed financially amid the lockdown.
“We need to understand for ourselves: This is so serious. It’s taking us out,” Winfrey said on Tuesday. The OWN boss launched a new Apple TV+ series last month and her first guest was actor Idris Elba who tested positive for the virus and has since recovered.
Jerome Hudson is Breitbart News Entertainment Editor and author of the bestselling book 50 Things They Don’t Want You to Know. Order your copy today. Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter and Instagram @jeromeehudson
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