Black, Latino Americans More Likely to Contract COVID-19—and Die From It

Black and Latino Americans, and in some cases Native Americans, are far more likely to not only contract COVID-19 but to fare worse than their white counterparts once they get it, according to a secret report by the Centers for Disease Control. The New York Times won access to the previously unreported data by filing a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit to force the CDC to release the information. The agency found that ethnicity plays a major role in disease outcomes in the U.S. and that Black and Latino people have been disproportionately affected throughout hundreds of counties in urban, suburban, and rural areas, as well as across all age groups. The study found that Latinos and Black Americans have been three times as likely as their white neighbors to contract COVID-19 and twice as likely as their white neighbors to die from it no matter where they live in the U.S.