COVID-19: Hispanics twice as likely to die in King County
SEATTLE (AP) — Hispanic, Pacific Islander and black residents in the Seattle area are being disproportionately sickened by COVID-19, and Hispanic residents are more than twice as likely to die from the disease as whites, public health officials said Friday.
The county’s top health officer, Dr. Jeff Duchin, said the data echo findings from other parts of the country that minorities are being hit harder by the novel coronavirus. It reflects long-standing discrepancies with housing, work, language barriers, access to healthcare and environmental problems that can lead to worse health outcomes for minorities, he said.
“No one should be surprised we're seeing these disparities in COVID-19 disease,” Duchin told a media briefing. “It's been an ongoing national tragedy and a shame that we have had communities of color throughout our country suffering disproportionate adverse health impact from a wide variety of health conditions. This has been widely recognized and tolerated for such a long time.”
King County, which suffered the nation's first severe outbreak at a Kirkland nursing home, had 6,348 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Friday, or 285 per 100,000 residents. Among minority groups, Hawaiian native and Pacific Islanders had the highest rate of cases, about 666 per 100,000 residents, followed by Hispanic or Latino residents at 628 and blacks at 328, the county said. There were about 149 cases per 100,000 white residents.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/covid-19-hispanics-twice-as-likely-to-die-in-king-county/ar-BB13uhf1