Blacks’ mistrust of medicine looms

NEW YORK - Just as the coronavirus was declared a global pandemic, gym members here called the fitness center where Rahmell Peebles worked, asking him to freeze their memberships. Peebles, a 30-year-old black man who’s skeptical of what he hears from media and the government, initially didn’t see the need for alarm. “I felt it was a complete hoax,” he said. “This thing happens every two or four years. We have an outbreak of a disease that seems to put everybody in a panic.” Peebles is among about 40M black Americans deciding whether to put their faith in government and the medical community during the pandemic. There are historic failures from government to disasters and emergencies, medical abuse, neglect and exploitation. All have jaded generations of blacks into a distrust of public institutions. Some call that skepticism the “Tuskegee effect" - distrust linked to the government’s once-secret study of black men in Alabama who were left untreated for syphilis. Black people have suffered disproportionately from chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease; and far more likely to be uninsured. How the government and medical community responds will be especially crucial for outcomes among black Americans, civil rights advocates and medical experts say. (Source: The AP 04/05/20) https://www.djournal.com/news/nation-world/amid-coronavirus-pandemic-black-mistrust-of-medicine-looms/article_1a937ad1-1e50-5303-9bb6-53ad28e1e246.html