NBA legend Magic Johnson says he’s hopeful health experts will soon come up with effective treatment to help patients beat coronavirus – but added important parts in overcoming the pandemic will be expanding testing and healthcare access to African American communities who have been hit the hardest.
“We’ve got to make sure, first … every American can get a test,” Johnson told CNN Thursday night. The former Los Angeles Lakers player announced nearly 30 years ago he was HIV positive.
“The reason why I’m still living is because (of) early detection. I had a test, I had a physical. It came up that I had HIV and that saved my life,” he said. “So people want to get tested. Until they get tested, people won’t be comfortable because that’s going to tell them whether they have this virus or not.”
But tests, Johnson said, should be made available in all parts of the country so that all communities have equal access.
“The problem is people want us to drive to suburban America to get that test,” he said. “Why can’t you have that testing done right in urban America, right in the inner cities?”
But having more tests won’t be enough. For African American communities which have so far been the hardest hit by the virus in the US, he said wider access to medical care as well as access to the right information about this virus will make all the difference.
“When you think about, first of all African Americans, we deal with a lot of health issues already. So we talk about HIV and AIDS, but obesity, when you think about diabetes, high blood pressure, so all these things we already deal with, then you add coronavirus on top of that, that’s a tough situation,” Johnson said. “And then the lack of access to health care, that’s just an unbeatable situation.”
Tracking the coronavirus in the US
Early data released by some cities across the US showed a staggering number of African Americans have been killed by coronavirus.
Chicago officials said earlier this week 72% of coronavirus victims were black – despite the fact that African Americans make up 30% of the city’s population.
In Louisiana, where 32% of the population is African American, those residents account for more than 70% of coronavirus deaths.
“There’s been inequalities and injustice going on for a long time especially when you think about minorities,” Johnson said. “Until those things change, we’re still going to have a lack of health care. We’re still going to be behind the 8 ball when you think about African Americans.”
But there’s also a lot of misinformation contributing to the problem, Johnson said, which is reminiscent to the rumors and beliefs that floated around when there was still little known about HIV, he said.
“Blacks thought they couldn’t get HIV and AIDS. It’s the same thing as the coronavirus. It reminds me going back 30 years, we were all wrong.”
“That’s why we see these (coronavirus) numbers so high, because … people went out there spreading the word that blacks couldn’t get it, and now we see that not only can we get the coronavirus but we can die from the coronavirus,” Johnson said. “So, in our community, we got to do a better job of making sure everybody knows that they can get this virus. And it’s deadly.”
CNN’s Jill Martin contributed to this report.