by afampov · April 12, 2021 By David Maynard, Chairman of the Association of Black Business and Professionals There is an old saying, “When white folks catch a cold, black folks catch pneumonia.” The saying is about the disparity between the two communities when national calamities occur. This axiom manifests itself in the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on a variety of levels. On a humanitarian front per the Center for Disease Control statistics, while the number of Blacks diagnosed with COVID-19 is comparable to Whites, the rate of hospitalization is 2.9x higher and the rate of death is 1.9x higher for Blacks.