{"id":5084202,"date":"2020-06-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-08T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ctlatinonews.com\/disparities-in-hispanic-and-black-death-rates-much-worse-than-previously-reported\/"},"modified":"2020-06-08T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-06-08T04:00:00","slug":"disparities-in-hispanic-and-black-death-rates-much-worse-than-previously-reported","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/2020\/06\/08\/disparities-in-hispanic-and-black-death-rates-much-worse-than-previously-reported\/","title":{"rendered":"Disparities in Hispanic and black death rates much worse than previously reported"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">by&nbsp;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/ctmirror.org\/author\/jrabe\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">JACQUELINE RABE THOMAS<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/ctmirror.org\/author\/aradelat\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ANA RADELAT<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After reporting for weeks that Connecticut Hispanics are only half as likely to die from COVID-19 as non-Hispanic whites, state officials now say that Hispanics here are substantially&nbsp;<em>more likely<\/em>&nbsp;to die from the disease.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">State officials were also reporting that the state\u2019s black population was only 26% more likely than whites to die from a coronavirus infection when in fact their likelihood of death is 2.5 times as high.&nbsp; The death rate for Hispanics is now calculated at 67% higher than non-Hispanic whites.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Why the change? And why were they getting it wrong?<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Health officials recognized that the daily figures being released by the governor\u2019s office weren\u2019t a true reflection of the impact of the disease on the populations outside of nursing homes, where 60% of Connecticut\u2019s COVID-19 deaths have occurred. Yale Public Health Epidemiologist Albert Ko, who chairs Gov. Ned Lamont\u2019s advisory group on reopening the state, said the daily reports did not jibe with the number of blacks and Hispanics who were reported hospitalized at more than twice the rate of whites.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With an average age of 29 compared to 47 for whites, Hispanic residents are collectively the state\u2019s youngest population and for that and other reasons there are fewer of them in nursing homes. U.S. Census figures show only about 5.9% of residents of nursing homes and assisted living facilities are Hispanic, slightly less than the state\u2019s 7%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Going forward the state plans to release racial and ethnic death rates adjusted for age.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhen you don\u2019t age adjust, it can lead to a different conclusion. A conclusion, that could be false,\u201d said Matthew Cartter, the state\u2019s top epidemiologist at the Department of Public Health. \u201cTo answer the question: are Hispanics more or less likely to have died from this? You have to age adjust, and when you do, you clearly show Hispanics do indeed have higher rates of death.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Public health experts say every state should be adjusting for age if they want to accurately understand who is being affected by the virus and where to focus their efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dr. Cary Gross, who led a Yale School of Medicine research team looking at mortality rates, said only a handful of states are age-adjusting.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe are pleased that CT has just started to do this,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are optimistic that more states will follow this example, and are happy that CT is amongst the leaders here. Now that we have the data, the more important question is what is CT doing to mitigate these disparities?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cGiven the strong relation between age and risk of COVID-related mortality, and the younger age distributions of the black and Latinx populations, these unadjusted data can result in substantial underestimates of disparities,\u201d researchers from Yale\u2019s schools of Medicine, Public Health and Equity Research and Innovation Center&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.medrxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/2020.05.07.20094250v1\" target=\"_blank\">reported<\/a>&nbsp;May 11.<\/p>\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>&#8220;<em>When you don\u2019t age adjust, it can lead to a different conclusion. A conclusion, that could be false.\u201d<\/em> <\/p><cite> <em>Chief epidemiologist Matthew Cartter&nbsp;<\/em> <\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Experts cite a host of reasons for the higher death rates among people of color. Minorities are more likely to have underlying health conditions such as diabetes and asthma, their jobs are more likely to put them at risk of getting the virus, they have unstable housing or often live in crowded living conditions, and often don\u2019t have good access to health care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While all these factors may be contributing to the high death rate, there\u2019s also the unmeasurable, says Bridgeport resident Diales Olivencia. She was caring for elderly and disabled residents in their home in Bridgeport before they \u2014 and she\u2013 contracted COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Struggling to breathe last week, the Puerto Rican native was convinced she was going to die, she said. One of her clients, who is also Puerto Rican, is not expected to survive. His lungs stopped working Friday and was put on a ventilator.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Among the 12 personal care attendants Olivencia worked with \u2013 nearly all of them Hispanic \u2013 10 have COVID-19, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis is my belief: we expose ourselves more often because we care about our patients and what we do. A lot of people don\u2019t risk their lives like we do. Like me, I love what I do. I love to take care of patients and at that time, I didn\u2019t mind to risk my life for them,\u201d said Olivencia, who is now on the mend. \u201cI thought I was going to die. It was so hard, because I have two daughters. It has been hard for them because they thought I was going to die.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Accurate data critical to providing care<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The state\u2019s first months of daily reports on black and Hispanic death rates defied logic for health equity experts.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHere\u2019s the rub: a lot of what we\u2019re seeing in the data may be obscured by the fact that we don\u2019t disaggregate by socioeconomic status and other demographic factors,\u201d said Wizdom Powell, director of the Health Disparities Institute at UConn Health. \u201cThe challenge here is that it could oversimplify what\u2019s happening with this population in ways that suggest that they don\u2019t need resources for testing or COVID-19 recovery efforts dedicated to that community \u2013 and that\u2019s far from the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cartter \u2013 the state\u2019s chief epidemiologist \u2013 agrees there are huge implications if the data is not accurately reported.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMy job as an epidemiologist is to document the impact of COVID-19. Our intent is to include this in our weekly update, so that it\u2019s available for discussions, because one of the things about pandemics is that they are always followed by long periods of discussion and policy-making and the enacting of new laws. That\u2019s characteristic of every pandemic in history: Everybody tries to figure out what it is you need to do the next time around,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> \u201cThere are populations that are at increased risk for serious death and illness. This includes people in minority groups in the United States. It\u2019s clear that the pandemic didn\u2019t create these disparities, but it certainly has revealed them and in ways that we\u2019ve seen before but basically the disparities became even clearer during the pandemic.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Cultural and economic differences<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While Hispanic residents makeup 16.5% of Connecticut\u2019s overall population, they only account for 7% of the roughly 25,000 people living in Connecticut\u2019s nursing homes on any given day. African-Americans comprise about 11% of the nursing home population. The Connecticut Department of Public Health has not yet released the racial and ethnic breakdown of the nearly 2,200 nursing home residents who died from COVID-19, though it is working on that data.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In addition to their relative collective youth, there are other reasons why fewer Latinos are in skilled nursing home facilities. They are less affluent than non-Hispanic whites and less likely to be able to afford residency in pricey, community-based skilled nursing and assisted living facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But another important reason is cultural. Hispanic people are much less likely to place an elderly relative in an nursing home.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cPeople in the Latino community live in inter-generation families,\u201d said Rita Carreon, vice president for health at UnidosUS, the nation\u2019s largest Hispanic advocacy group.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention paints a grim picture when it comes to the Hispanic population in the pandemic. Nationally, the CDC reported, 28% of those who have contracted COVID-19 are Hispanic, though they make up only about 18% of the U.S. population. The CDC data also showed that 40% of all school-aged children hospitalized with COVID-19 are Hispanic.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Carreon said that data may be incomplete and not show the full impact of the pandemic on this population group.&nbsp;\u201cWe don\u2019t have enough information,\u201d she said. \u201cWe remain in the dark. The true impact on our community is still unknown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>How do Connecticut\u2019s disparities compare?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While the state\u2019s disparities in racial and ethnic death rates are glaring after adjusting for age, Connecticut\u2019s gaps are still narrower than most of the 27 other states that release the race and ethnicity data, Yale researchers report.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hispanics are 88% more likely to die from COVID-19 in 27 other states using \u201cracially and ethnically stratified data,\u201d compared to 60% in Connecticut,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.medrxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/2020.05.07.20094250v1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">according to one report<\/a>. Black residents are 3.5 times more likely to die than whites among those states, compared to 2.5 times in Connecticut.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Powell said there are other factors to help explain why the death rate among some Hispanics is not as high as that of blacks.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Much of Connecticut\u2019s Hispanic population is from Puerto Rico, but historically those who immigrate here from other countries experience a gradual decline in health the longer they are here. \u201cSomething happens with the length of time in the U.S. and we see a sort of deterioration of that protective health effect for Hispanics and Latinx individuals,\u201d Powell said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some Hispanic residents also might be being misclassified as white in the data.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cPeople who are Hispanic or Latinx can choose and can select white,\u201d Powell said,&nbsp; and \u201cin certain parts of our nation, folks don\u2019t even have an option to select a more granular ethnic category, so they might revert to selecting white.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A UnidosUS poll released last week shows one-fourth of the nation\u2019s Latinos know someone with COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Carreon asserts that the main reason the pandemic is taking a toll on the Hispanic communities is that a disproportionate number of them work in jobs considered \u201cessential\u201d and have had continued interaction with the public during the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She cited statistics showing that 70% of all health front-line workers in New York City are people of color, and worries Latinos will become more vulnerable to the coronavirus as states begin to reopen.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019re starting to see a lot more suffering and dying,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ctmirror.org\/2020\/05\/29\/disparities-in-racial-and-ethnic-death-rates-much-worse-than-previously-reported\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Disparities in Hispanic and black death rates much worse than previously reported<\/a> was first published by CTMirror. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> <em>Publisher\u2019s Note:&nbsp;CTLN&nbsp;and CTMirror collaborate to best serve the Connecticut Hispanic, Latino community.<\/em> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by&nbsp;JACQUELINE RABE THOMAS&nbsp;and&nbsp;ANA RADELAT After reporting for weeks that Connecticut Hispanics are only half as likely to die from COVID-19 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","ghostkit_customizer_options":"","ghostkit_custom_css":"","ghostkit_custom_js_head":"","ghostkit_custom_js_foot":"","ghostkit_typography":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1537,121],"tags":[1673],"ppma_author":[565],"class_list":["post-5084202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ctmirror","category-health","tag-covid-19hispanics-and-health"],"acf":[],"mb":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Jermaine Smith","author_link":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/author\/jay\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"by&nbsp;JACQUELINE RABE THOMAS&nbsp;and&nbsp;ANA RADELAT After reporting for weeks that Connecticut Hispanics are only half as likely to die from COVID-19 [&hellip;]","authors":[{"term_id":565,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"news-editor","display_name":"News Editor","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"mfb_rest_fields":["title","uagb_featured_image_src","uagb_author_info","uagb_comment_info","uagb_excerpt","authors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5084202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5084202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5084202\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5084202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5084202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5084202"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinonewsnetwork.com\/ctln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=5084202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}