Dan Patrick blames unvaccinated Black people for COVID surge

Texas’ lieutenant governor is blaming unvaccinated Black people for rising COVID-19 hospitalization and death rates

AUSTIN, Texas -- Texas' lieutenant governor blamed rising hospitalization and death rates from COVID-19 on unvaccinated Black people — comments that were quickly denounced as racist. Republican Lt. Governor Dan Patrick made the remarks Thursday night on a Fox News segment in response to question about the latest coronavirus surge in Texas. The state is seeing its highest hospitalization rates since January as the highly contagious delta variant spreads. “The biggest group in most states are African Americans who have not been vaccinated,” Patrick said. Patrick did not change course Friday, saying “Democrat social media trolls” misstated facts and that he had used state data in his assertions.