Austin-Travis County Interim Health Authority Dr. Mark Escott said Wednesday that the racial breakdown of coronavirus patients in Travis County is consistent with county demographics, at least for now.
Escott said during a virtual town hall Wednesday evening that local health authorities received new demographic data earlier in the day.
Of the 597 people who have tested positive for the virus, 57% were white, 30% Hispanic, 8% black, 4% Asian and 1% belonged to other racial or ethnic group, city data shows.
According to 2019 estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau, 48.8% of Travis County residents were white, 33.9% Hispanic, 8.9% black and 7.3% Asian.
Racial and ethnic information on the seven people who have died from the virus were not immediately available.
Austin Public Health director Stephanie Hayden said the city will expand demographic data to include statistics for those being hospitalized as well, though the exact timeline when that information would be ready was not immediately available.
The USA Today Network reported Tuesday that black Americans have been dying from COVID-19 at higher rates than others in some cities across the country.
In Illinois, where African Americans represent 15% of the population, 28.4% of the 13,549 people who contracted the virus were black. USA Today said Michigan, which has a black population of 14%, saw 33% of its COVID-19 cases — and 40% of the deaths caused by the illness — among black citizens.
Such disparities have not been seen in Austin thus far, but Escott said health officials don’t expect those numbers to stay the same as infections surge in coming weeks.
“It seems that in other jurisdictions, it’s more likely to spread quickly in households that have a large number of people and it’s more likely to be more severe in those who have substantial underlying health conditions,” he said. “And we know that race and ethnicity substantially impact those underlying health conditions, and we’re very, very concerned about the impact that it’s going to have on this community in Austin and Travis County.”
Escott said city and county leaders are working to ensure that everyone has access to testing and particularly encouraging people of color to not wait to seek treatment.
He said those without a doctor can call CommUnity care at 512-978-9015 to schedule a phone appointment to be screened for testing. Health officials could implement walk-up testing clinics in certain underserved communities to provide consistent access to people, he added.
“It’s hard for us to fix the underlying inequities that have been in Austin for a long time in relation to this COVID-19 condition, but we certainly want to avoid compounding that issue,” Escott said. “We do want to make sure that folks have equal access to testing and equal access to care.”
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