camara jones, an epidemiologist who once worked for the centers for disease control and prevention said this was socioeconomic and not because of any natural difference in black and white people's bodies. in the united states, black citizens are more likely to work jobs where they serve the public directly and to ride on public transport rather than take their own cars to work. this makes them more likely to be infected than people who work in private offices or from home. sharrelle barber, an epidemiologist and biostatistician from drexel university, also said black americans can live in crowded neighborhoods where social distancing is harder to do and healthy food harder to find. both barber and jones blamed the long history of racism in the united states for these things. three senators, kamala harris, cory booker and elizabeth warren said the federal government should start recording the race of covid-19 patients so scientists could study this problem.