Data from the Monroe County public health department shows racial and ethnic minorities dying from COVID-19 at higher rates than white residents of the county.
African Americans appear particularly vulnerable in the county’s data, dying at almost triple the rate of white people, according to figures released on Friday.
African Americans and Latinx residents are also overrepresented in the county’s COVID-19 diagnoses and hospitalizations.
The statistics are a local example of a national trend that finds racial and ethnic minorities disproportionately endangered by the disease.
Recent demonstrations led by the Black Lives Matter movement in Monroe County have also called attention to racism as the root cause of health disparities for racial and ethnic minorities in the U.S.
The county confirmed 20 new cases of the novel coronavirus and two deaths from COVID-19 on Friday.
The total number of people hospitalized for the disease in the county dipped for a fifth straight day, according to the county’s figures. Of the 111 people in hospitals for COVID-19 treatment, 13 were on a ventilator.
