In recognition of Hispanic Heritage Month, the American Medical Association (AMA) released a new report emphasizing the starkly disproportionate Latinx COVID-19 cases and fatalities — further underscoring concerns that a lack of consistent data reporting underestimates the pandemic’s magnitude on the Latinx community and illustrating how the pandemic has deepened pre-existing inequities.
The report, titled ‘Latinx COVID-19 health inequities: Insights for the health care field,’ serves as a compilation of existing data highlighting that COVID-19 cases affect Latinx individuals at nearly double the overall national rate — and calling attention to data showing that Latinx individuals are overrepresented in some state mortality rates. The report features these key statistics from public health reports:
- Latinx individuals make up 18% of the U.S. population; yet represent 33% of new COVID-19 cases.
- Latinx individuals make up roughly 19% of New York’s population; yet account for 34% of COVID-19 fatalities.