COVID-19 Deaths by Race and Ethnicity in the U.S
by APM RESEARCH LAB STAFF
Our ongoing Color of Coronavirus project monitors how and where COVID-19 mortality is inequitably impacting certain communities—to guide policy and community responses to these disproportionate deaths. The coronavirus has claimed more than 195,000 American lives through Sept. 15, 2020—about 24,000 more than our last update four weeks ago, averaging nearly 900 deaths per day. We know the race and ethnicity for 95% of the cumulative deaths in the United States.
Our latest update reveals continued wide disparities by race, most dramatically for Black and Indigenous Americans. We also adjust these mortality rates for age, a common and important tool that health researchers use to compare diseases that affect age groups differently. This results in even larger mortality disparities observed between Black, Indigenous, and other populations of color relative to Whites, who experience the lowest age-adjusted rates nationally. Age-adjusting elevates the mortality rate (above the actual rate) for Latinos more than any other group—revealing that COVID-19 is stealing far more Latino lives than we would expect despite this group’s relative youthfulness.