Tuesday, July 14, 2020

Asian Americans suffer higher death rate from COVID-19


ASAM NEWS


Asian Americans have a death rate 3 times higher than the general population in cities where they make up at least 5% of the population, reports Health Affairs.


Half of the deaths due to COVID-19 are Asian American in San Francisco, where AsAms make up a third of the population.
Overall, in California, the mortality rate of Asian Americans is 8.4% vs 2.6% of the overall population. It exceeds 10% in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and New Jersey.

In Clark County where Las Vegas is located, the death rate of Asians where they comprise 10.4% of the population is 16.8%.

"Importantly, there is no evidence that Asian Americans face a higher case fatality due to ethnicity itself," says Health Affairs.

"False perceptions associating Asian lives with sickness coupled with xenophobic politicization of the COVID-19 pandemic have fueled rising hate crimes against Asians in the US and worldwide. To be clear, there is no evidence that Asian Americans are any more or less likely to contract or transmit the virus than the general population."


Researchers suspect several factors behind high death rate among Asian Americans. It may be due to the lack sufficient testing or they may face a higher risk of death from COVID-19 due to socio-economic factors or medical conditions. It could also be a combination of both.

Making these startling statistics more difficult to analyze is the lack of data. Several states still have not broken down coronavirus patients by race. Where it is available, Asian Americans in Los Angeles and Illinois show Asian Americans receive a low rate of testing.

In Santa Clara County in California, the death rate from COVID among Asians with dementia is 11% vs 3 percent without. Those with cerebrovascular disease have a death rate of 11% versus 5% without.

Nationwide, Asian Americans make up 6.3% of those who have died, according to MEAWW. 6.1 of those under 65 and 6.3% of those above 65.

Views From the Edge contributed to this report.

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