COVID-19 Hospitalization and Death by Race/Ethnicity
Written by COVID-19 NEWS on March 24, 2022
| Rate ratios compared to White, Non-Hispanic persons | American Indian or Alaska Native, Non-Hispanic persons | Asian, Non-Hispanic persons | Black or African American, Non-Hispanic persons | Hispanic or Latino persons |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cases1 | 1.6x | 0.7x | 1.1x | 1.5x |
| Hospitalization2 | 3.1x | 0.8x | 2.4x | 2.3x |
| Death3 | 2.1x | 0.8x | 1.7x | 1.8x |
Race and ethnicity are risk markers for other underlying conditions that affect health, including socioeconomic status, access to health care, and exposure to the virus related to occupation, e.g., frontline, essential, and critical infrastructure workers.
References
1 Data Source: Data reported by state and territorial jurisdictions (accessed March 15, 2022), COVID-19 Case Surveillance Public Use Data | Data | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (cdc.gov). Numbers are ratios of age-adjusted rates standardized to the 2019 U.S. intercensal population estimate. Calculations use only the 66% of case reports that have race and ethnicity; this can result in inaccurate estimates of the relative risk among groups.
2 Data source: COVID-NET (March 1, 2020 through March 5, 2022). Numbers are ratios of age-adjusted rates standardized to the 2020 US standard COVID-NET catchment population. Starting the week ending 12/4/2021, Maryland temporarily halted data transmission of COVID-19 associated hospitalizations, impacting COVID-NET age-adjusted and cumulative rate calculations. Hospitalization rates are likely underestimated (linkexternal icon).
3 Data Source: National Center for Health Statistics provisional death counts (https://data.cdc.gov/NCHS/Provisional-Death-Counts-for-Coronavirus-Disease-C/pj7m-y5uh, data through March 5, 2022). Numbers are ratios of age-adjusted rates standardized to the 2019 U.S. intercensal population estimate.
Note: Adjusting by age is important because risk of infection, hospitalization, and death is different by age, and age distribution differs by racial and ethnic group. If the effect of age is not accounted for, racial and ethnic disparities can be underestimated or overestimated.
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