Issue Brief 1: Quantifying the Extent of Disparities between Black, Hispanic and White New Yorkers in the Context of COVID-19

Authors

Meredith Barranco
David Holtgrave
Eli Rosenberg

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-2020

Abstract

COVID-19 fatality rates for Black and Hispanic New Yorkers are more than double those for White residents, with even greater disparities outside New York City. The rates of hospitalization, test-confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis and exposure in New York City also reveal substantial racial and ethnic disparities. In short, there is stark, though incomplete, evidence of racial and ethnic inequalities in the virus’s toll in New York to date. Further, estimates based on the available data suggest important differences in the way these disparities manifest for different groups at different stages of the disease from exposure to death or recovery. This baseline should be expanded to include more data about the virus’s impact on Native Americans in New York as well as information about pre-existing conditions among COVID-19 patients generally, long-term outcomes for COVID-19 survivors, and an expansion of antibody studies. These measures will help policymakers better understand inequalities in the virus’s spread in order to devise public health interventions that account for each demographic group’s unique experience with the disease and evaluate their impact over time.

Recommended Citation

Barranco, Meredith; Holtgrave, David; and Rosenberg, Eli, "Issue Brief 1: Quantifying the Extent of Disparities between Black, Hispanic and White New Yorkers in the Context of COVID-19" (2020). Publications, Issue Briefs, Reports, Etc. 7.
https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/covid-mhd-nys-pubs-and-reports/7