COLUMBUS – State and local officials are turning their attention to the toll the COVID-19 outbreak has taken on minority communities.
Governor Mike DeWine announced Monday that he has formed a Minority Health Strike Force, made up of state and local officials, minority advocates, health experts and others, to study the problem in Ohio, and the rest of the nation, that the disease has disproportionally impacted blacks.
The state on Tuesday reported 13,725 confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 in Ohio with 557 deaths.
Columbus city officials, meanwhile, have also announced the creation of a new Center for Public Health Innovation to study health disparities.
13% of African Americans do not have health insurance, compared to 6% of caucasians. African Americans are experiencing more complications and hospitalization from COVID-19. #Columbus @DrMRoberts @SG_Hardin
— Mayor Andrew Ginther (@MayorGinther) April 20, 2020
The Ohio Department of Health reported 21 percent of individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19 in Ohio are African American, which DeWine says may be a low estimate.
“But, even if it’s 21 percent, that certainly is disproportionate to the African American population in the state of Ohio, which is somewhere between 13 and 14 percent, so this is very, very concerning,” he said.
Black leaders have been demanding a reckoning of the systemic policies they say have made many African Americans far more vulnerable to the virus.
Health conditions that exist at higher rates in the black community — obesity, diabetes and asthma — make African Americans more susceptible to the virus. They also are more likely to be uninsured, and often report that medical professionals take their ailments less seriously when they seek treatment.
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Saying that data on coronavirus cases in nursing home and assisted living centers was inaccurate and had temporarily been removed from the state’s website, DeWine says he has directed the Ohio Department of Health to collect more specific information regarding cases of COVID-19 in nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and hospitals.
The data on nursing homes and assisted living facilities will include COVID-19 cases broken down by the number of residents and staff who have tested positive for the disease and will be listed by facility and county every Wednesday.
While trying to balance transparency and individual privacy rights, the state will also begin reporting data on deaths in nursing homes and assisted living facilities by county, DeWine said.
The reporting module must be modified to collect this information, so DeWine says it will likely begin to be reported next week.
DeWine also directed the Department of Health to modify the Ohio Disease Reporting System to accurately collect case information for medical staff at hospitals who have tested positive for COVID-19.
That data, which will be available soon on the department‘s coronavirus website, will be listed for each hospital.