African Americans patients with COVID-19 were 2.7 times more likely than non-Hispanic white COVID-19 patients to be hospitalized and came in sicker with more severe symptoms, according to a recent study in the medical journal Health Affairs.

Even with health coverage, African Americans were less likely to seek coronavirus testing and more likely to wait until it became an emergency to go to the hospital, the study of Northern California patients found.

This makes it so much more important for people of color to do their research before choosing a hospital, to ensure that they have strong family advocates who will ask the right questions, and get help from medical staff to improve overall health and reduce vulnerability to disease, experts say.

Because of COVID-19's disproportionate effect on minority communities, it's especially important that people of color "develop trust with a health care provider" who also treats them well, said Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association.

"Knowing what the better hospital is, even for emergency care, can be extremely important particularly when you can tell the ambulance driver that you prefer to go to hospital A and not hospital B."

"It's not surprising African Americans don't trust health care providers," said Hegens, who grew up in southeast D.C. "That mistrust has been built over years of not getting fair treatment at particular venues."