United States: The Unexplained Burden of COVID-19 Mortality by Racial Group

COVID-19 death rates across the US demonstrate an interesting truth, with yet to be fully understood cause(s) as to how the pandemic has spread in the US: race matters.

• The black or African American population constitutes about 9% of the population* of Kansas and roughly 33% of the state’s COVID-19 deaths
• In Arizona, American Indians represent only 2% of the population and almost 25% of those who died from COVID-19 in the state.

Unfortunately for the US (and the world) in terms of gaining control over this pandemic, race also does not matter, or not as you might expect if you stop short with the two example data points above and CDC analysis linking COVID-19 mortality rates and unequal economic and social conditions that may isolate people from the resources needed to respond to the outbreak. Intuitively the CDC's linkages make sense. And, yet, the data is telling a more complicated story.

Take a look at the data for a few other states - Florida, Minnesota, Ohio. COVID-19 deaths among the white populations of these states are disproportionately high compared compared to the share of whites in these states populations and despite the fact that the whites in those states enjoy better relative economic and social conditions. This points not only to the importance of other factors that affect the distribution of deaths but also to persistent questions about how cases and deaths are tallied across the United States and globally.

Methodology Note: In the charts below, the 'weighted' population figures were calculated using population by race in each state weighted by the total number of COVID-19 deaths in the state to ensure that the population estimates and percentages of COVID-19 deaths represent comparable geographic areas.