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COVID-19: In Color, By the Numbers (September 2020 Edition)

COVID

Inspired by the Harper's Index. Published on September 1, 2020. For more insight and resources at the intersection of COVID and race, check out these EmbraceRace curated lists: COVID resources that take race seriously and The racial impacts of COVID.

  • Total number of U.S. deaths due to COVID-19, as of August 30th: 182,752.
  • Black people as a percentage of the population in Washington, DC: 46.
  • As a percentage of COVID-related deaths in Washington, DC: 74.
  • Factor by which Native Americans in New Mexico are more likely than members of the general population to die from COVID: 6.
  • Percentage by which the death rate for Black, Hispanic, and Asian Americans has increased in 2020 relative to their average death rate over the last 5 years: 31, 44, 35.
  • By which the death rate has increased for White Americans in 2020: 9.
  • Approximate share of deaths among Asian Americans in 2020 that have been officially linked to COVID-19: 1 in 2.
  • Minimum number of registered nurses in the US who have died of COVID-19, as of August 24th: 193.
  • Percentage of Filipinos among registered nurses who have died from COVID: 30.
  • Of Filipinos among all US registered nurses: 4.
  • Percentage of the CDC's COVID testing data that includes race/ethnicity information as of August 30th: 49.
  • Number of states providing race/ethnicity data for all of their COVID cases, as of August 21st: 0.
  • Percentage of COVID cases in Texas for which we have race/ethnicity information, as of August 21st: 7.
  • Black, Latino, American Indian, and Alaska Native Americans as a percentage of the US population: 33.
  • As a percentage of confirmed COVID cases in the US: 56.
  • As a percentage of participants enrolled in the Moderna Inc. COVID vaccine trial, the first to begin Phase 3 clinical trials in the US, as of August 21st: 18.
  • Factor by which a Black child is more likely than a White child to test positive for COVID-19: 4.
  • By which a Latinx child is more likely than a White child to test positive: 6.
  • Number of children hospitalized with COVID-19 in the 14 states that report that data to the COVID-19–Associated Hospitalization Surveillance Network (COVID-NET), March 1–July 25, 2020: 591.
  • Among the 526 hospitalized COVID-NET children for whom race/ethnicity data are available, the percentages who are Black, Latinx, Asian American, and White: 30, 46, 4, 14.
  • Black women as a percentage of birthing mothers in the US: 15.
  • As a percentage of pregnant women who have tested positive for COVID: 22.
  • Percentages of Black, Hispanic, and White Americans who say fear of COVID infection would keep them from going to the hospital if they had a heart attack or stroke: 41, 33, 24.
  • Share of Black adults who report experiencing racial discrimination in health care: 1 in 6.
  • Share of White adults who do: 1 in 20.
  • Share of men incarcerated at the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center in Bakersfield, CA who tested positive for COVID the week of August 18th: 1 in 2.
  • Percentage decline in Black, Latinx, and White-owned businesses between February and April: 41, 32, 17.
  • Share of U.S. households who reported not having enough to eat in the week before July 21st: 1 in 8.
  • Feeding America's estimate of the percentage increase in food-insecure families in the next 12 months, given current trends: 46.
  • Percentages of Black, Hispanic, and White adults who support a Universal Basic Income: 73, 63, 35.
  • Number of Americans who would have fallen below the poverty line without the expanded COVID unemployment benefits and stimulus checks: 17 million.
  • Ranks of Utah and Idaho among states in highest unemployment rates for Blacks and Hispanics relative to Whites in the second quarter of 2020 (2.3-to-1 and 2.2-to-1, respectively): #1, #2.

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