Beyoncé addressed COVID-19’s extreme impact on black Americans during Global Citizen’s One World: Together At Home event on Saturday (April 18). The multi-platinum selling singer spoke on the high death rate, specifically citing the harsh realities in her hometown of Houston.
“Black Americans disproportionately belong to these essential parts of the workforce that do not have the luxury of working from home,” she said. “And African American communities at large have been severely affected in this crisis. Those with pre-existing conditions are at an even higher risk.”
She continued, “This virus is killing black people at an alarmingly high rate here in America. A recent report from my home city — Houston, Texas — it showed that of COVID-19 deaths within Houston city limits, 57 percent of fatal cases are African American.”
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According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, black citizens comprise 33 percent of COVID-19 cases in the United States. A recent analysis by the Associated Press determined nearly one-third of coronavirus-related deaths in the U.S. are African Americans.
The CDC has confirmed 746,625 overall cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. so far. The death toll has surpassed 39,000 as of Monday (April 20).