this is "nightline." tonight, the racial divide. african-americans bearing the brunt of covid-19. >> we are become open season when this kind of pandemic sweeps across the country. >> the alarmingly disproportionate death rate, exposing a harsh reality. plus, sounding the alarm. mayors of two storied cities, chicago and new orleans, now covid-19 hotspots. what's being done to help the most vulnerable. >> "nightline" starts right now with juju chang. >> good evening. thanks for joining us. tonight, even as we begin to see what may be glimpses of a flattening of covid numbers in parts of the u.s. concern is growing over hotspots like detroit, new orleans and chicago. big cities now facing a new

crisis within a crisis. one shining a painful light on america's racial divide. here's my "nightline" co-anchor, byron pitts. >> i still have the cough. i have the headache, and kind oo weeks, shelly has battled an invisible enemy. it might appear she's losing, but this 67-year-old doesn't rely on what the eyes can see. >> i'm coming back, i'm feeling better. >> reporter: you hope that or you know that. >> i know that. i couldn't walk from my den to my upstairs without being on oxygen, so yes, i'm coming back. >> reporter: she wasn't able to get a test but is convinced her body aches and ever-present cough are sure signs of covid-19. >> my husband, he was tested. then my sister, she's proved positive. >> reporter: her husband of 41 years, tommy, hospitalized in the icu for days, covid-19 positive and fighting for his life.

>> so it was scary. it was scary. i prayed every day for him to come home. >> reporter: as the coronavirus continues its deadly march, there's a grim reality emerging, a disproportionate toll being paid in black and brown lives. >> sometimes when you're in the middle of a crisis like we are now with coronavirus, it really does have ultimately, shine a very bright light on some of the real weaknesses and foibles in our society. >> reporter: while black americans make up just over 13% of the u.s., cdc data shows they were 33% of the coronavirus hospitalizations last month. among those patients, many who struggle with prior health conditions. >> when all this is over, there will still be health disparities, which we really do need to address in the african-american community. >> reporter: only a few states are tracking the racial break down of covid-19 fatalities, but if history is our teacher, the most vulnerable will bear the brunt of the virus' strike.

detroit, the motor city, birthplace of motown, once a bastion of manufacturing, a city on its way to comeback, at least until the coronavirus struck. >> currently, in the state of michigan, we understand 33% of the covid cases are african-american. 40% of the deaths are african-american, but yet african-americans only make up 14% of michigan's population. so those numbers are striking. >> reporter: dr. kimberly farrow is the ceo of central city integrated health in mid down detroit. she serves mainly the african-american population. >> before we were dealing with covid, we dealing with the war on obese its and heart disease and hypertension, because we recognize these populations are

more vulnerable to these maladies. when you super impose covid onto that, our patients have an increased risk of having poor outcomes, poor health outcomes. >> reporter: to make things worse, the clinic had to stop seeing most people in person w n she adds it's hard for her patients to even know if they have the disease. >> testing sites are very limited in the inner city communities. most of these testing opportunities are in suburban areas. our patients already struggle with transportation. so you have to either take a bus, find a ride to these testing areas or walk. and that's just not realistic for our patients. >> reporter: michigan's governor, gretchen whitmer announcing she's creating a task force to examine the racial disparities. >> hey, y'all, how y'all doin'? everybody stayin' safe? too bad we can't shake hands, but we do it like this. >> reporter: on the west side of chicago.

reverend marshall hash delivering a message. >> when do you guys do service? >> nobody can do service now. >> really? >> yeah, because of covid. >> reporter: over the decades, these streets have seen more than their fair share of challenges. >> we're in a community that has been disinvested in. we are segregated from opportunity and resource, and then we have become open season when this kind of pandemic sweeps across the country. >> reporter: roughly 70% of covid fatalities in chicago have been among the black population. lori lightfoot announced a wellness campaign and wellness checks for the most vulnerable. for reverend hatch, the pandemic came through his own doors when, on sunday, it took the life of his sister. >> she was the first in our family to go away to college, a public schoolteacher and really the matriarch of our family.

my best friend, larry harris passed away as well. he and i were friends for 45 years. so it's really been a double blow for me personally. >> reporter: as someone who was also raised in church, right, where our folk like to touch and lay hands on each other. with covid-19 you can't do that, so how are you supposed to mourn? >> this is about as foreign of a feeling as i've ever had. we're used to being able to find in a church, find hope, and to have that taken pay way in the midst of this pandemic, it is incredibly, incredibly frustrating. and adds to the pain deeply. >> reporter: in milwaukee, wisconsin, the death toll continues to climb, and, of th6%av ith afrin-amicanomnihird of the cit population. >> you cannot get away from the fact that there has been

intentionality in ensuring that minorities have been marginalized for years. >> reporter: he is with the naacp in milwaukee and says his brothers and sisters are dying and authorities are doing little to help. >> none of the resources that they are targeting are being targeted in the central area with the highest rate of incident that covid-19 is occurring. >> reporter: how do you explain that? >> systemic racism. what else can you attribute it to? >> our decision to include race and ethnicity as a measure of our covid incidents was very important and rooted to that declaration of racism as a public issue. >> reporter: dr. kowalic is with the city of milwaukee. she says combating the virus starts with being transparent about who is the victim here. >> if the data on race and ethnicity was more available

since the beginning of this outbreak nationally, i think that could have helped us provide a more robust campaign. >> reporter: the virus has taken more than 700 lives in louisiana, with african-americans accounting for more than 70% of those deaths. in new orleans, the music that once celebrated life and death, now on pause. >> the grieving process is on hold, and just waiting on the right time to properly grieve. >> reporter: elroy james is president of the zulu club known for lavish carnival parades. weeks after mardi gras, it devastated his club. >> many more members are hospitalized, on ventilators. we started experiencing deaths within the last two weeks. >> reporter: among the lives taken, the youth mentor and a great friend. cornell charles and larry hammond. founded in 1916, to provide free burials for the black community, the zulu club now grieving from

a distance. >> we're going to have to again figure out a way to celebrate the lives of our brothers. ♪ >> the earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal. >> reporter: back in chicago, words of faith still streaming out through turbulent times. the pews empty to keep the congregation safe, the reverend offering comfort and hope online. >> we're doing this through a passover season. it was a similar situation where people were told to stay in the house. to shelter in the home until the plague has passed over. but the good news is, this, too, will pass. >> reporter: as a sister used to say in my childhood church, "make it plain, preacher." >> the pandemic of 2020 is something we'll always remember, you know, for families like mines. we'll remember the people who were lost. weeping endures for the night, but joy will come in the

morning. ♪ never lose its power >> reporter: for shelly and tommy mitchell, that joy came this morning. so they tell me word on the street is there was good news today. >> yes, it was. my husband came home today. i have my partner. i have my husband. i have my lover. and he's home. and he's doing good. >> reporter: what was that moment like when you got out of the hospital today? >> what you think? you know i got me a hug. >> reporter: when you were in the hospital, when were you in intensive care, were you scared? >> yeah. >> reporter: tonight, together again. their love enduring. their laughs plentiful.

for them, it's as much a remedy as anything they received at the hospital. >> we take care of each other. it's back to the old school. >> reporter: yes, sir. the young folk will call that rot or die. that's your family. >> i don't know what y'all call it, but i know what i call it. i call it love. >> reporter: love is a powerful medicine. >> yes, it is. and it can cure a lot of things. >> our thanks to byron. and up next, a deeper dive into covid's racial inequalities, the tale of two cities, with the mayors of chicago and new orleans on the front lines of the pandemic. cities, with the mayors of chicago and new orleans on the front lines of the pandemic. helping many people with type 2 diabetes like james lower their blood sugar. a majority of adults who took ozempic® reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. here's your a1c. oh! my a1c is under 7! (announcer) and you may lose weight. adults who took ozempic® lost on average up to 12 pounds. i lost almost 12 pounds!

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tonight, we've been reporting on the alarming rate of african-americans dying from covid-19. earlier today i spoke to two mayors shining a light on this disparity. lori lightfoot of chicago and mayor cantrell of new orleans. thank you both for joining us. mayor lightfoot, let me begin with you. you helped sound the alarm about the racial divide. first, what was your initial reaction to the numbers and why

have you demanded demographic information from the chicago health department and the cdc to make this data available nationally? >> when i first saw those numbers, it was staggering. i mean, it truly was painful to see in black and white the level of devastation and disparity. it was devastating the black community here in chicago. i knew these numbers were not just a chicago story, but a story playing out really across the nation. the data helps guide what our response is. we have to have that demographic information, to be able to guide an effective response and educate people about what's happening and what they can do as a community, as a family, and as individuals. >> mayor cantrell, let me ask you. new orleans has one of the highest metro poverty rates. how does that lack of access to health care both before and during covid play into these staggering death rates?

>> what we're witnessing here is the intersection of the impact of race, gender, inequities in terms of that. as it relates to poverty, the lack of access to quality health care. this ferocious virus, because of all of these different factors, it's taking our people out in record numbers. with the virus as well as in deaths. and, in the city of new orleans, we are a hot spot. we're fourth in the u.s., and our people are dying. >> what needs to be done to protect this vulnerable community, the african-american community. >> this is a question of poverty, no question abo that's why we started sounding the alarm about the devastating effects of poverty in our city way before anybody knew anything about coronavirus. social distancing is a luxury when you have space. but, in many of our communities,

you have inner generational families, limited amount of space, and you have people that are on the front lines that can't afford or don't have the option and luxury to telework. >> so what do you say to those citizens who have to take buses and subways to get to work, who don't have the luxury of working from home? >> what this has revealed to us is the policy tyranny of working families and those that do not earn a livable wage, of those who do not have social networks. this is exposing what we know is happening on the ground. >> what can we do now to help save lives? >> we are reaching out to communities through the faith community. we have street outreach. workers that normally are trying to prevent violence from happening. we've activated that network. we are in black clubs. we are limiting the number of people that can get on a bus. we've added extra buses. and we're doing the same thing with train lines. >> share with us your personal

reflections on just how much covid-19 seems to be exposing these long-standing, systemic inequalities of race and class in this country? >> when you see the data and use the data, not only to educate yourself, but to educate your community, you know, you cannot overlook that. the deaths are real. and so what it does, i know for me, is to double down on the efforts to link our residents with the support of services that they need. and especially when we know that these disparities exist on every level prevalent in the black community, no matter what disaster comes our way. right now it's covid-19, but we need to understand that the vulnerable will still be the most impacted. what's next? because there will be something next. >> mayor lightfoot? >> the thing we can never forget, these aren't just statistics. these are real people, real lives that are being directly, dramatically affected.

it just hits you right in your heart when you think about the potential devastation and how many people we are going to lose as a result of this virus. but really, we're going to lose them because of years of neglect, years of not making sure that we're making the kind of investments in black and brown communities that we absolutely must now, because it's imperative for us to turn this around. >> mayors lightfoot and cantrell, thank you so much for being here. >> thank you. >> thank you. and next, handing out help and hope. ing out help and hope. ulcerative colitis under control. turns out, it was controlling me. seemed like my symptoms were taking over our time together. i knew i needed to talk to my doctor. think he'll make it? that's when i learned humira can help get and keep uc under control when other medications haven't worked well enough. pleve control that lasts. so you can experience few or no symptoms.

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and finally tonight, no one should go hungry because of the pandemic. abc today launching a day of hope. partnering with feeding america. the country's biggest hunger relief organization. together, helping feed those in

need. in the last three weeks, nearly 17 million people filed for unemployment. bu're t s workers out of a job. hundreds across the country work overtime to make a difference. for their neighbors. so, if you or your family need help or would like to donate, please visit feedingamerica.org/feed the love for more information. that's "nightline" tonight, thanks for staying up with us. "jimmy kimmel live" starts right now. stay safe, goodnight, america. my kimmel live" starts right now. stay safe, goodnight, america aa ♪ ba, da, ba, ba, da, ba, ba, da, ba, ♪ ♪ jimmy kimmel live this is ridiculous. from his house.

>> jimmy: not a green screen. hi, i'm jimmy. i'm the host of the show. may i ask what you're doing in my house? i hope everybody's doing all right. here in los angeles, i have to say, there have been a lot of positives about staying at home. the air pollution is gone. no traffic, and crime is down to almost nothing. there's never been a worse time to be an amazon package thief. i've had to stop stealing them myself. it is kind of funny crime is down at the same time everyone's dressed like they're about to rob a stage coach. and there's never been a time to have a high-speed car chase. if o.j. was on the run right now, he and a.c. would have made it to guatemala. tomorrow is formal friday, where you dress up for no good reason, and tonight is special, too. let's go to guillermo now. tell us what tonight is. >> guillermo: tonight is thirsty thur