Coronavirus in NY: COVID-19 race, ethnicity data show black, Hispanic population at higher risk
New data show about 18% of novel coronavirus deaths in New York, excluding New York City, were black people and 14% were Hispanic people, revealing the virus is disproportionately killing people of color.
In contrast to the newly reported death data, black people account for about 9% of the state's population outside New York City, and Hispanic people account for 11%.
Health officials noted the new data is preliminary, representing 90% of the coronavirus death information on race and ethnicity outside New York City. It will be updated as the information becomes available.
Details of the racial and ethnic disparities came after data revealed the majority of New York’s more than 5,489 deaths due to coronavirus were among men, and 86% of all deaths were among people who had underlying illnesses, such as hypertension and diabetes.
New York started to release more details about coronavirus cases just hours after a USA TODAY Network article on Friday sourced experts who said the state should release as many details as possible to help the public understand the virus and their risks.
Outside New York City, 62% of the deaths due to COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, were white people, who represent about 75% of the population, the new data show.
Asian people accounted for 4% of the COVID-19 deaths, which is the same as their population percentage outside New York City.
In New York City, the data reflected 63% of the deaths, meaning it is more difficult to draw conclusions about the risk factors.
The data for New York City showed 34% of COVID-19 deaths were Hispanic people, who represent 29% of the city population. Black people represented 28% of COVID-19 deaths and 22% of the city population, the data show.
Asian people represented 7% of COVID-19 deaths and 14% of the city population, the data show.
State Sens. Zellnor Myrie, D-Brooklyn, and Jamaal Bailey, D-Bronx, on Tuesday urged state and New York City officials to release the data detailing the racial disparities of the COVID-19 crisis.
“The novel coronavirus has been called a ‘great equalizer,’” the senators wrote in a joint letter to state and city officials.
“While it is true that anyone can contract the virus and this crisis reaches all of us in some way, it is absolutely not true that the harm it causes is distributed equally," the senators wrote.
"On the contrary, it is clear that COVID-19 is hurting most the ones with the least,” they added.
Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker on Tuesday addressed reports from other states that show data on COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, is hitting communities of color hardest.
"One of the challenges is that some of the communities have challenges with their health in general," Zucker said.
"They’re more apt to have some of the challenges with asthma and so anytime anyone who has underlying medical conditions ends up with this virus, or any other virus, it puts them more at risk," he added.
Public health experts have expanded on the heightened threat that many diseases, including COVID-19, pose among marginalized communities.
“The virus is an equal-opportunity crisis … but the impact and the burden of it is not going to be shared equally,’’ Dr. Ashwin Vasan, a public health expert and assistant professor at Columbia University in New York City said to USA TODAY.
“Like most things in society, it's going to be regressive. It's going to be felt disproportionately by the poor, the vulnerable, the marginalized, and obviously that falls down in this country on communities of color," he added.
While the federal government faces pressure to release more national COVID-19 information, some states have already begun revealing reams of data.
The COVID Tracking Project website, for instance, is collecting data from the states. It noted Monday that nine states, including New Jersey and Connecticut, were releasing racial demographic data.
Illinois, for example, reported that 3,607 of its confirmed COVID-19 cases were black people, state data show. That's nearly 30% of the state's cases, despite the fact only about 15% of its population is black or African American, U.S. Census data show.
Further, 129 of Illinois' coronavirus deaths, or 42%, were black people, the data show.
In New Jersey, state officials reported information on the race of those who died for the first time Monday. Of the statewide deaths, 60% were white, 24% black, 5% Asian and 11% other, the USA TODAY Network reported.
In contrast, about 15% of New Jersey's population is black, U.S. Census data show.
President Donald Trump and Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said during a White House briefing Tuesday that African Americans were being hit hard by the coronavirus, representing a "tremendous challenge" for the nation, according to the president.
"We want to find the reason to it," Trump said, adding that national data on race and coronavirus cases should be available later this week.
ReNika Moore, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Racial Justice Project, addressed the lack of national COVID-19 racial data in a statement to USA TODAY Network New York.
"The impact of the pandemic has pulled back the covers to clearly demonstrate our country’s racial inequities, including healthcare disparities, among black communities," Moore said.
"To effectively fight this pandemic and support black and brown communities, a COVID-19 response must address the pervasive racial injustices at the federal, state and local level — this includes collecting and reporting accurate data on rates of infection and outcomes by race," she added.
Addressing findings in the early COVID-19 racial data, the National Women's Law Center noted women of color are disproportionately represented within front-line and low-paid workforces bearing the brunt of the pandemic, including food service, home care, child care, and grocery store staff.
"As a country, we can’t enable inequitable systems and then feign shock that death rates are higher in communities of color," Dorianne Mason, director of health equity at the center, said in a statement.