Coronavirus kills California blacks and Pacific Islanders at excessive rate, numbers show
Black Californians make up 6 percent of the state’s population, but represent 12 percent of those who have died from the coronavirus, according to data released Wednesday by the California Department of Public Health.
The agency has statistics on race and ethnicity for 87 percent of deaths and 65 percent of cases of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus. California has 24,424 confirmed cases of the respiratory illness and 821 deaths as of Tuesday, according to CDPH.
The statistics paint a bleak picture for African Americans since it appears that their illnesses are being diagnosed at a rate matching their representation in the population, but are dying at disproportionate rates.
That picture is no better for native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, who comprise just 0.3 percent of the California population but make up 1 percent of deaths and 2 percent of cases.
Chet Hewitt strives to end health and racial disparities as the president and CEO of Sacramento’s Sierra Health Foundation. He said these numbers show just how difficult it can be for some groups to get access to high-quality care.
“Who gets tested and the level of aggressiveness around treatment is often disparate,” Hewitt said, “and there is an ongoing argument as to whether that is the cause or the consequence” of disparities in morbidity and mortality rates.
All too often, he said, African Americans have poorer health outcomes because they live in neighborhoods that lack green spaces where they can exercise and grocery stores where fresh produces is readily available. They also often live in neighborhoods where the air is more polluted because the housing stock is cheaper, and consequently both indoor and outdoor air quality is low compared with other city neighborhoods.
African Americans have two or three times the rates of infant and child mortality, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and pulmonary conditions such as elevated rates of asthma than other ethnic and racial groups, he said.
“We should stop talking about inequality because COVID-19 has thrown it completely in our face,” Hewitt said, “and we should start thinking about doing something about it during this pandemic, but just as importantly post-pandemic ... we will not be able to eliminate disparities in health unless we do the kinds of social interventions which are required to put people in the best places they can be so that when something like this happens in society that they are best-positioned to protect themselves.”
Hewitt said the state and nation must deal with issues around poverty and ensure that everyone has access to health care in order to conquer these disparities. Residents who lack housing are at greater risk when it comes to contracting COVID-19, he said, and 40 percent of California’s unhoused residents are African American.
If people cannot afford protective devices or find a sanitary environment, if they can’t afford medical care, that sets the stage for a virus to be an even more effective killer when it shows up, Hewitt said.
“We have to end the debate about whether everybody gets health care,” Hewitt said. “We’re a developed nation. That debate needs to end. Everyone needs to have access to health care, and it should be high-quality health care as well.”
Editor’s note: This article was updated April 20 to correct the Pacific Islander ethnic identification.
This story was originally published April 16, 2020 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Coronavirus kills California blacks and Pacific Islanders at excessive rate, numbers show."
