Awareness of social needs can help address health inequity during COVID-19

As the COVID-19 pandemic evolves, preliminary data indicate that minorities and individuals with lower socio-economic status are at increased risk of infection and mortality. These patterns are playing out across the country. In Milwaukee, African Americans account for about 70% of deaths from COVID-19, but just 26% of the pop-ulation. In Louisiana, 70% of the residents who have died were African Americans, although they only make up 32% of the state’s popula-tion. Similarly, in Michigan, African Americans account for 33% of cases and roughly 40% of deaths, despite comprising only 14% of the population. And, two Native American pueblos in New Mexico have the highest infection rates of any U.S. county. Newly available data from the Centers for Disease Control and Pre-vention show that African Americans account for 33% of confirmed COVID-19 cases and Latino Americans account for 23%. Both per-centages exceed the groups’ share of the U.S. population, 13% and 18%, respectively.