'a crisis within a crisis:' race and income determine covid-19 outcomes

that’s why healthcare leaders are calling on the ontario government to start collecting race and income-based data in relation to covid-19. without plans from the government to release data, researchers from western university have combined existing data from the public health agency of canada and census data on race and socioeconomic composition of health regions. they found covid-19 infection rates are significantly higher in regions with a higher percentage of black residents.

earlier reports from the u.s. show that black populations make up one-third of hospitalizations for covid-19 , despite only accounting for 18 per cent of the population in the areas studied.

in chicago, black residents have accounted for 72 per cent of deaths from covid-19, despite making up only 30 per cent of the city’s population. in new york, hispanic and black residents are facing twice the mortality rate of their white and asian counterparts. thousands of transit workers have fallen ill, a labour pool where ethnic minorities make up 70 per cent of the workforce.

on april 10, ontario’s chief medical officer dr. david williams said race-based statistics are not being collected in canada “unless there are certain risk factors in groups or areas.” he added the world health organization (who) has not yet said race is a risk factor for covid-19.

the u.s. shows canada that data collection infrastructure is not only possible, but can provide clarity, says sané dube, a policy and government relations lead at alliance for healthier communities . dube created an open letter calling on the ontario government to measure race and income-based data during the covid-19 pandemic. currently, data collection across canada is patchwork and not standardized.

canada cannot extrapolate data from other countries

“ontario is such a diverse province, and canada’s most populous province. you cannot say that that diversity does not matter. we know that it matters,” says dube. “our context is not the same as china. the u.s. has the highest number of cases in the world, and they’re collecting data. i don’t think that holds up to say ‘other people are not doing it.'”

during the media briefing , williams said the current main risk groups for covid-19 are the elderly, those with other co-morbidities, and other health conditions that reduce immune status. williams defended ontario’s lack of income and race-based data collection, saying, “regardless of race, ethnic or other backgrounds, they’re all equally important to us.”

dr. dexter voisin says, “yes, all groups should be equally valued, but we know from research that all groups are not equally impacted. covid impacts individuals based on income — which is highly correlated with race.”

knowledge gaps during h1n1

we’ve seen this before during the swine flu of 2009. first nations, inuit and métis peoples in canada were overrepresented during the h1n1 pandemic. although combined, these groups represented 4.3 per cent of the canadian population , this group represented 27.8 per cent of h1n1 cases.

members of first nations were 6.5 times more likely to be admitted to an icu with h1n1 than non-first nations people. but the data gathered was inconsistent between provinces and the majority of literature focused on hospitalizations, icu admissions, and fatalities, leaving gaps in knowledge of h1n1’s epidemiology in first nations, inuit, and métis populations.

‘crisis within a crisis’

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'a crisis within a crisis:' race and income determine covid-19 outcomes

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