New Study Suggests Minorities Are More Susceptible to Coronavirus

A study in the United Kingdom suggested that those belonging to an ethnic minority group are more vulnerable to COVID-19. To be specific, black people are four times more likely to contract the virus after undergoing a diagnostic test. 

According to The Lancet Infectious Diseases, those from racial minorities are running the chance of dying from COVID-19. It also takes into consideration the differences in income, social class, education, and employment background. Even so, black people still ranked high in the bracket.

Here is a run-through of the figures found in the study.

• Males were likely to be positive: [18·4%] of 1612 men against 291 [13·3%] of 2190 women.
• Adults were at risk compared to children: 243 [18·5%] of 1316 adults aged 40-64 years versus 23 [4·6%] of 499 children.
• Black people were at higher odds than white people: 388 [15·5%] of 2497 white people versus 36 [62·1%] of 58 black people.

Surprisingly, the study also produced an astonishing discovery. It mentioned that people who smoke were less likely to show a positive result for COVID-19.

However, the authors of the extensive investigation also greatly emphasized that this data should not be used to conclude that smoking prevents an individual from being infected. Overall, their findings will be a great supplement in the coming months when lockdown measurements are to be slowly softened.

Gayatri Amirthalingam of Public Health England and joint author of the investigation published in the medical journal, the Lancet was quoted in a statement as part of an announcement stating that:

"This analysis of primary care outcomes of individuals testing positive for virus is an important contribution to our wider understanding of how COVID-19 is affecting people of different demographic groups."

He also supported the concept that both socioeconomic and geographic factors played a role in the likelihood between black and white ethnicity of succumbing to the virus. With this in mind, the authors also underlined the fact that they were under certain limitations.

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As the researchers couldn't control the influences that the test subjects may have, as they all come from routine testing procedures, these researchers don't just want to know who will be higher at risk but also who's most at risk of having a new type of coronavirus. 

Meanwhile, the United Kingdom is already hitting its target for contact tracers. According to the New Scientist, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is confident that the government will be able to reach 25,000 recruits by the time June arrives.

These tracers are a crucial part of the government's COVID-19 combat strategy, which includes a contact tracing application. They are hoping that this will help prevent another wave of infections, especially with the plans of opening workplaces and schools next month.

As of this moment, the confirmed cases of COVID-19 have reached more than 4.9 million, with 248,000 cases in the United Kingdom. COVID-19 is a respiratory illness that is spread through the air via droplets when an infected individual coughs or sneezes.