Hispanics in the US are twice as likely to test positive for coronavirus | The NY Journal

Although external factors such as underlying health conditions or place of residence count, researchers at Yale University and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine have found a worrying trend: Hispanics in the US are twice as likely to test positive for coronavirus.

The experts published a study in the journal PLOS Medicine that highlights “the urgent need to improve strategies to prevent and contain further outbreaks in racial and ethnic minority communities in the US ”, as Hispanics and African Americans.

The study examined all people receiving medical care from the US Department of Veterans Affairs just before the pandemic and monitored them for identify who was tested for COVID-19, who tested positive, and who died within 30 days to undergo the test.

Between February 8 and July 22 of this year, 254,595 people took the test; 16,317 tested positive for coronavirus. From them, 11.4 percent were Hispanic, while 10.2 percent were African-American, percentages more than double that of the white population, which only reached 4.4 percent.

Christopher Rentsch, the lead author of the study, noted that while minority people with coronavirus “did not appear to have worse outcomes, our findings suggest that these communities face a substantial excess burden of COVID-19 infection“.

And although previous reports highlight that minorities are more likely to live in densely populated areas, share a home with multiple family members, or have essential high-touch jobs, researchers cannot fully explain the reason for this disparity between the Hispanic and white population.

“Understanding what is driving these disparities is vital so that strategies can be adapted to curb disproportionate epidemics in minority communitiesRentsch added.