Let’s start from the beginning: According to a June 2020 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, people with type A blood have a 45 percent greater risk of contracting coronavirus, whereas people with type O blood were 65 percent less likely to become infected compared to other blood types. Despite that research, however, the reality is quite different. If you have type O blood, you’re far from immune to the virus. Thirty-six percent of the U.S. population has type A blood, while 48 percent has type O blood. According to the American Red Cross, type O blood is most common in Hispanic and African American groups (51 percent and 57 percent, respectively). Yet, Black communities have disproportionately high COVID-19 infection rates. On June 25, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released data that showed that Black people are infected with coronavirus at a rate five times higher than white people. Meanwhile, Hispanic or Latino people are four times as likely as their white counterparts to become infected. They also have the largest hospitalization rates after American Indians and Alaskan Native people. When adjusted for age between 45 and 54, Black and Hispanic death rates are at least six times higher than those among white people, according to research by Brookings.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb Counties with a greater number of Black residents make up over half of all coronavirus cases and nearly 60 percent of deaths, CNN reports—an overwhelming number, considering that Black people account for just 13.4 percent of the total U.S. population. RELATED: For more up-to-date information, sign up for our daily newsletter. “[Type] O shouldn’t think they aren’t going to get this disease,” Sakthivel Vaiyapuri, MD, PhD, an associate professor in cardiovascular pharmacology at the University of Reading, told CNN. “They shouldn’t be running around everywhere and not maintain social distance, nor should [type] A panic.” And for more ways you could be impacted by coronavirus, check out If You Have This in Your Blood, You’re Twice as Likely to Die From COVID.
