Scott Stump, NBC News, April 14, 2020

Oprah Winfrey is sounding the alarm about the seriousness of coronavirus and its disproportionate effect on the African American community.

The television mogul explores the impact of the illness on the black community in the latest installment of her “Oprah Talks COVID-19” series, which is available for free on Apple TV+ starting Tuesday. She spoke with Hoda Kotb about the latest installment on TODAY Tuesday.

“It’s not only ravaging our community, but people who have preexisting conditions, which I think people didn’t hear that,” Winfrey said. “So if you are taking medication for your diabetes, if you’re taking medication because of hypertension, if you need an asthma inhaler for asthma, if you have any kind of lung disorder.”

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Winfrey has joined fellow film and TV mogul Tyler Perry and other prominent African American voices in spreading the word about the seriousness of the coronavirus. A report released last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that severe cases of COVID-19 are disproportionately affecting African Americans.

Winfrey previously discussed the seriousness of the coronavirus in an episode on Apple TV+ with British actor Idris Elba, who was one of the first celebrities to reveal he had been diagnosed with it last month.

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