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Notable Black Folks Who Have Contracted The Coronavirus

[caption id="attachment_3922658" align="alignnone" width="728"] Source: askmenow / Getty[/caption] UPDATED: 8:36 p.m. ET, March 15, 2021 -- After months of seeing the coronavirus ravage other parts of the world, COVID-19's widespread effect on the U.S. has increasingly hit home for many Americans as states see as a continuous stream of people become diagnosed with the respiratory illness that turned into a global pandemic. And after a brief spate of the fake news that Black people were somehow immune to contracting the coronavirus, a steady and troubling number of Black folks -- including those who are notable and famous -- have not only since been diagnosed but many have also died of complications from it. Jo Thompson, who was once hailed as the "piano-playing Lena Horne," died from COVID-19 complications on March 9, 2021. She was 92. Thompson, a Detroit native, travelled all around the world with her gifts and was known as a barrier-breaking artist in a time where Black artists were still fighting for liberation in America. https://twitter.com/detroitnews/status/1369717690827370497?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1369717690827370497%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnewsone.com%2Fplaylist%2Fnotable-black-deaths-2021%2F Antoine Hodge, a respected and celebrated opera singer, died from COVID-19 on Feb. 22. He was 38-years-old. Hodge recently appeared in the Metropolitan Opera’s 2019 production of “Porgy and Bess." https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1365738508216860674?s=20 "My brother had opera singers' lungs, and COVID destroyed them," his sister told The New York Times. His family initially set up a GoFundMe to raise money for his treatment, however, the page is still open for donations. Most recently, it was announced that NFL head coach Mike Tomlin had contracted COVID-19. Tomlin, 48, was one of multiple members of the Pittsburgh Steelers coaching staff to test positive for the virus, ESPN reported. Without acknowledging the reports that he had tested positive for the coronavirus, Tomlin tweeted a statement on Feb. 22 thanking people for wishing him well. "I want to thank everyone who reached out to express their concerns for my health," Tomlin began his statement before adding later: "I'll be back in the office soon." https://twitter.com/CoachTomlin/status/1363982637329768453?s=20   Tomlin's and the other diagnoses have effectively shattered misconceptions about who can contract the coronavirus. Previously, it was believed that the elderly with underlying health conditions were most at risk. And while that remains true, there has seemingly been a surge of cases involving younger age groups and people who had no pre-existing health conditions before their COVID-19 diagnoses. The cases don't account for the reports of a growing number of Black people who have been diagnosed with or died of complications from the coronavirus that have seeming flooded this writer's social media timelines as friends and others grieve their loved ones across the country. One of the clearest indications that Black people could indeed contract the coronavirus came when it began to affect players in the NBA, a professional sports league that is made up of more than 74 percent of players who are Black. After that came announcements from celebrities who offered cautionary tales to the public about how they may have contracted the illness and ways to prevent others from repeating their errors. The nation's system of prisons and jails has also been affected, leaving the disproportionate number of Black inmates increasingly susceptible to the coronavirus. That was especially true in New York, including at the infamous Rikers Island complex where CBS News reported that at one point last year, the coronavirus infection rate was "more than seven times higher than the rate citywide and 87 times higher than the country at large." In addition, the nation's police departments were at risk for the same reasons as the jails and prisons. Scroll down to see a list of notable Black folks who have contracted the coronavirus as the world tries to flatten the global curve of cases to restore some semblance of societal normalcy. They follow in alphabetical order.