TABLE 1—
Preliminary Epidemiological Surveillance Data on COVID-19 Cases and Deaths in the United States, April 2020
Authors | Location | Findings |
Eligon et al.1 | Chicago, IL | African American residents have made up more than half of coronavirus cases and 72% of deaths, despite being less than one third of the city’s population. African Americans residents in Illinois account for less than 15% of the population, but 28% of COVID-19 cases and 43% of deaths. |
Rios and Rangarajan2 | Wisconsin | In Wisconsin, nearly twice as many African American residents of Milwaukee County have tested positive for the virus as White residents, and about 80% of patients who have died in the county were African American. African Americans make up just 6% of the state’s population but 25% of its COVID-19 cases and 39% of its deaths. |
Katersky and Torres4 | New York City | African Americans are twice as likely as Whites to die from COVID-19 and more than twice as likely as Whites to have a nonfatal hospitalization. |
Rios and Rangarajan2 | Connecticut | African Americans are overrepresented among those infected with COVID-19 in Connecticut. |
Perry et al.5 | Washington, DC | About 46% of the population is African American, but the rate of COVID-19 deaths in the city is 62.5%. |
Georgia Department of Public Health, 2020 (https://dph.georgia.gov) | Georgia | As of April 23, 2020, the Georgia Department of Health reported that African Americans accounted for 31% of all confirmed COVID-19 cases (6445 of 21 102), and were 52% of all confirmed COVID-19 deaths (442 of 846). |
Loiaconi3 | Louisiana | About 70% of people who have died from the virus were African American, but only about one third of the state is African American. |
Rios and Rangarajan2 | Mississippi | African Americans make up 38% of the state’s population and 66% of COVID-19 fatalities. |
South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, 2020 (https://bit.ly/2zlySHB) | South Carolina | Data from the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control indicate that African Americans account for 36% of COVID-19 positive cases, and 57% of deaths from COVID-19 in the state. According to the US Census Bureau, 27.1% of the South Carolina population is African American. |
Poston et al.6 | Los Angeles County, CA | African Americans represent 17% of COVID-19 deaths, but make up only 9% of the population. Data collected by the California Department of Public Health indicate that African Americans account for 11% of COVID-19 deaths, although they make up only 6% of the state’s population. |
Garg et al.7 | United States | A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicated that about 1 in 3 people who became sick enough to require hospitalization from COVID-19 were African American, even though African Americans constitute 13% of the US population. The data analyzed by the CDC were from 14 states. The COVID-19-associated hospitalization rate among nearly 1500 patients identified through COVID-NET for the 4-week period ending March 28, 2020, was 4.6 per 100 000 population. Among patients with race/ethnicity data (n = 580), 261 (45.0%) were non-Hispanic White, 192 (33.1%) were non-Hispanic Black, 47 (8.1%) were Hispanic, 32 were Asian, 2 (0.3%) were American Indian/Alaska Native, and 46 (7.9%) were of other or unknown race. |