Race Factoring Into CT's Coronavirus Battle: Here's How

CONNECTICUT — The daily coronavirus numbers — confirmed cases, hospitalizations, and deaths — continue to spiral upward. Connecticut's coronavirus hospitalizations exceeded 1,000 on Thanksgiving, the highest total since mid-May, and the state is on track to cross a grim milestone of 5,000 deaths sometime in the next few days

What's lost in the daily charts and hospital bed tallies is the data showing that Black and Hispanic communities are, per capita, bearing more than their share of the COVID-19 burden.

Through Nov. 26 in Connecticut, Hispanic and Latino people have been most likely to have contracted COVID-19, and Black/African Americans are most likely to have died.

Put another way, Blacks are 10 percent of Connecticut's population, are making up 14 percent of the population who are testing positive for the coronavirus, and 15 percent of coronavirus-associated deaths. Hispanic or Latino people are 16 percent of the state's population, 29 percent of the COVID-19 cases, but just 9 percent of virus-related deaths. The overwhelming majority (74 percent) of COVID-19 deaths in Connecticut are white people, but they also make up 68 percent of the population, and half the cases.

Why the disproportionate number of people of color getting sick and dying from COVID-19?

The causes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, stem not from biology, but economics.

Those hospital beds that health departments and journalists track so obsessively aren't contributing much if they're empty, and people from some racial and ethnic minority groups are less likely to fill them, according to the CDC. The barrier is usually a lack of insurance, but there can also be challenges of transportation, child care, or language.

From the start of the pandemic, residents of Connecticut elevated and rallied around our essential workers. Through their efforts, healthcare facilities, farms, factories, grocery stores, and public transportation all stayed open. Those workers, however, are more likely to be exposed to COVID-19, and are also more likely to be Black. In fact, a recent study shows that non-Hispanic Blacks disproportionately occupied the top nine "essential" occupations. Not only did their jobs place them in close contact with the public or other workers, many of the gigs did not provide paid sick days.

Of course, not every essential worker wanted to be an essential worker and in the line of fire for the virus. For many minorities, there was not much in the way of options, as their economic situation dictated they could not miss work, even if they were ill.

A mix of cultural and economic reasons have kept some people from racial and ethnic minority groups living in crowded conditions, according to the CDC. The agency has cited that housing situation as often making it difficult for minorities to adopt its COVID-19 mitigation strategies, such as social distancing.

When applied at the community level, these strategies can cause what the CDC described as "unintentional harm" in the form of lost wages, reduced access to services, and increased stress, for some racial and ethnic minority groups.

Even when not jeopardizing minorities' health through direct exposure to the virus, these factors have contributed to higher rates of some medical conditions that increase their risk of more severe illness from COVID-19. Studies cite sickle cell disease, and, more controversially, smoking and obesity, as placing people at increased risk for severe illness from the virus that causes COVID-19.

The tracking of race-related data amidst the mix of all the other virus-related data got off to a spotty start in the spring, as can be seen in the chart above, compiled from state Department of Health records. But when the CDC did release its data on Aug. 18, it showed that Blacks, Latinos, and American Indians are experiencing hospitalizations at rates 4.5 to 5.5 times higher than non-Hispanic whites.

Connecticut has not consistently provided data on race from the beginning of the pandemic, having reported ethnicity for 65 percent of the cases, and 99 percent of the deaths. The race categories are also mutually exclusive and defined as not Hispanic or Latino. The number of American Indian/Alaska Native deaths is based on fewer than 10 deaths and should be interpreted cautiously.

See also: Friendly’s Closes Location; Retailer Opens 1st CT Store: CT News

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