The News and Observer reported that a survey on coronavirus among Latinos, of corresponding health departments in all of North Carolina’s 100 counties, resulted in data from 46 counties. “Information from the remaining 54 counties was either not provided or health departments did not respond to requests for it,” the story reported.
Crystal Wiley Cené, MD, MPH, associate professor in the division of general medicine and clinical epidemiology, said the state “absolutely” has the responsibility to publish data about the race and ethnicity in COVID-19.
“The virus is invisible…the data is how we can see it,” said Cené, who studies racial and social health disparities.
In both rural and urban North Carolina counties, the number of total virus cases in the county are reported to infect more Latinos than the portion of their population in those counties.
Cené said her patient, a 40-year-old Latina woman with coronavirus symptoms who didn’t have legal status was afraid to go to the hospital and provide her personal information. She died at home before being tested for the virus.
“There are unique challenges with undocumented status that exacerbate existing disparities,” said Cené. “It’s heartbreaking.”
Read the full story here.