âWhy, for instance, are African Americans more likely to die from the virus than other races? Our study controls for patientsâ income, weight, diabetic status, and whether or not theyâre smokers,â wrote Knittel in the study. âWe must examine other possibilities, such as systemic racism that impacts African Americansâ quality of insurance, hospitals, and healthcare, or other underlying health conditions that are not in the model, and then urge policymakers to look at other ways to solve the problem.â
