The Death of a Detroit City Bus Driver Calls Attention to Black Lives Lost to Coronavirus

The numbers are coming in on the coronavirus, and preliminary statistics indicate the disease is leaving a deadly legacy in Black America. The Centers for Disease Control has reportedly shared information about the location and age of Americans infected with the new coronavirus, but according to ProPublica, the CDC is tight-lipped about the race of victims.

Urban centers like Milwaukee, Detroit, and New Orleans are considered “hotspots” because of the large numbers of coronavirus cases. The outbreak in Detroit grabbed national headlines with the heartbreaking death of city bus driver, Jason Hargrove, whose Facebook post about a coughing passenger went viral.

“Hey, look man, let me tell you something,” Hargrove said in the video. “This coronavirus is for real. And we out here as public workers doing our job trying to make an honest living to take care of our families. But for you to get on the bus and staying on the bus, and cough several times without covering up your mouth, and you know that we’re in a pandemic…that lets me know that some folks don’t care.”

Four days later, Hargrove began to feel sick. He died Thursday night.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said, “I don’t know how you can watch it and not tear up, he knew his life was being put in jeopardy, even though he was going to work for the citizens of Detroit every day, by someone who just didn’t care.”

Hargrove and many other Black Americans are going to work every day, knowing they are possibly being exposed to the coronavirus.

“I disinfect as soon as I arrive,” said Corliss Patton who works at a re-entry program. “I ask the three questions before I allow anyone on my floor, ‘Have you traveled or been around anyone who has traveled out of the country, are you experiencing shortness of breath, do you have fever?’

Speaking Up for Others

In an Op-Ed for the political website, The Hill, Ben Chavis, President of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, called for government officials to note the inequity in healthcare Black Americans will experience even during this pandemic.

“Many black Americans will not get tested for coronavirus – whether they have symptoms or not – due to the fact that they cannot easily access medical facilities, and/or they are worried they will not be able to afford the medical services,” Chavis wrote.

Health experts point to the spread of rumors initially on social media falsely touting immunity to the coronavirus as an obstacle in the early fight to stop the disease. Skepticism bred over centuries of neglect and oppression may have further eroded confidence in the government’s social distancing guidelines. Meanwhile, socioeconomics did not provide a buffer against the distrust or the dismay associated with the indiscriminate way the virus attacks.

Black skiers attended the annual National Brotherhood of Skiers’ Summit in Sun Valley, Idaho from February 27-March 7 during the growing awareness of the disease in America.

Brad Corbin who attends the Summit told NBC News he likely “dodged a bullet” when he missed this year’s event. So far, at least six of the 600 attendees have been diagnosed with the deadly virus and many others are sick.

“It was at a time when the serious nature of coronavirus was not conveyed by the supposed leadership of the country,” Corbin said. “I’m sure it would have been canceled. But it was classified as a ‘hoax.’

Tallying the Toll

According to ProPublica’s report, Black Americans account for 40% of the coronavirus fatalities in Michigan where Jason Hargrove lived but only 14% of the population. Louisiana is reporting a fatality rate of 40 percent in Orleans Parish which is predominantly Black.

In New Orleans, the entire city is grieving the passing of Ellis Marsalis, Jr., jazz icon and father of jazz great Wynton Marsalis. The elder Marsalis died from the coronavirus. He was 85 years old.

The tribute his son, Wynton, posted on Facebook described the way Covid-19 impacted his father.

“Ironically, when we spoke just 5 or 6 days ago about this precarious moment in the world and the many warnings he received ‘to be care, because it wasn’t his time to pass from COVID’, he told me, “Man, I don’t determine the time. A lot of people are losing loved ones. Yours will be no more painful or significant than anybody else’s.’” In that conversation, we didn’t know that we were prophesying. But he went out soon after as he lived – without complaint or complication. The nurse asked him, “Are you breathing ok?” as the oxygen was being steadily increased from 3 to 8, to too late, he replied, “Yeah. I’m fine.”

The experts have sounded the alarm. Statistics continue to drive home the need for vigilance. But, perhaps, no single plea will be as effective as the voice of the late Jason Hargrove.

“I ain’t blaming nobody but the woman that did that,” he said in the video. “It’s folks dying from this. Listen, it’s folks dying out here.”