As Pandemic Deaths Add Up, Racial Disparities Persist — And In Some Cases Worsen
With more complete racial data for COVID-19 available, the trends are impossible to ignore: Minorities are getting sick and dying at disproportionate rates. Here's a state-by-state analysis.
Data gathered early in the pandemic showed that communities of color are disproportionately affected by COVID-19 across the United States. But incomplete data left a muddy picture of these disparities.
Today, as the U.S. has surpassed 200,000 COVID-19 deaths, and reached nearly 7 million confirmed cases, racial data is more complete, and the trend is crystal clear: People of color get sick and die of COVID-19 at rates higher than whites and higher than their share of the population.
The trend has persisted — and in some cases worsened — As the country struggles to bring the pandemic under control, Blacks, Latinos and Native Americans bear an unequal
