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Coronavirus death toll in US higher among minorities: Report

An EMS medic fits a mask on a patient with Covid-19 symptoms before transporting him to a hospital on August 14, 2020 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by AFP)

Blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans and Asian Americans have had a higher COVID-19 death toll compared to the majority of Whites in the United States,

Media reported on Friday that an analysis by The Associated Press and The Marshall Project found that while people of color make up just under 40% of the US population.

Based on figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans and Asian Americans accounted for approximately 52% of all the “excess deaths" so far this year 

The analysis defined excess deaths as the number of people above the typical fatality number who died in the US during the first seven months of 2020.

The report points to an increase in total deaths according to race, as well as the disproportionate COVID-19 death toll among Native Americans and Asian Americans.

Earlier reports had revealed an especially heavy toll on Black and Hispanic Americans.

The disparity has been attributed to unequal access to healthcare and economic opportunities.

According to a report Johns Hopkins University published on Saturday, the US. had more coronavirus cases and deaths than any other country in the world with 5.6 million infections and more than 175,000 deaths,   

Neighboring Mexico had nearly 550,000 cases of the virus early Saturday and more than 59,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins.

There were nearly 23 million global COVID-19 cases and almost 800,000 deaths, Johns Hopkins reported.

Meanwhile, the head of the World Health Organization says he hopes the coronavirus pandemic will end in under two years – less time than it took to stop the 1918 Spanish flu.

Speaking Friday at his regular briefing in Geneva, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the key to stopping the virus is for countries around the world to “pool our efforts.” 


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