Hispanics lead Chicago COVID-19 cases
‘The Latino community is the Illinois community,’ says Pritzker, citing alarmingly high rate of positive tests
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Gov. Pritzker, and Dr. Ngozi Ezike address a coronavirus briefing back in February. (One Illinois/Ted Cox)
By Ted Cox
The governor and Chicago’s mayor focused heavily on the Hispanic community in the battle against COVID-19 Wednesday, pointing out they lead city racial groups in cases and have the highest positivity rate on testing statewide.
“The Latino community is the Illinois community,” said Gov. Pritzker at the daily coronavirus briefing at the Thompson Center in Chicago. He cited data showing that, of known tests conducted by race, Hispanics had identified their race in 26,000 tests statewide, with 16,000 positive for COVID-19 — a 60 percent positive rate three times higher than the state average.
Announcing a new outreach program through heavily Hispanic unions — many in essential industries working throughout the pandemic — Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said at a separate news conference: “We will not stand idle as COVID-19 continues to disproportionately impact members of Chicago’s black and brown communities, and today’s action marks another step in our robust citywide response to the COVID-19 global pandemic. Protecting the health and wellness of all Chicagoans remains our top priority during this time, and launching this new scope of work for the Racial Equity Rapid Response team, in coordination with workforce partners, will allow us to enhance outreach and education in these communities and prevent the further spread of COVID-19.”
According to the Lightfoot administration, through Tuesday, Hispanics led all racial groups in Chicago COVID-19 cases in which race had been identified, with 7,156 cases, while African Americans accounted for 6,967, whites 3,381, and Asian Americans 636.
A city news release on the topic reported: “The number of confirmed COVID-19 positive cases throughout Chicago continues to increase, and over the past month the data show an increasingly disproportionate impact on the Latinx community. In early April, the Latinx population represented 14 percent of cases and 9 percent of deaths. However, new data now show Latinx Chicagoans represent 37 percent of cases and 25 percent of deaths.
“African Americans also continue to represent a disproportionate percentage of cases (36 percent) and deaths (52 percent), but Latinx residents now make up the largest percentage of cases.” The release clarified that “in spite of efforts to improve reporting, about 28 percent of test results still lack race and ethnicity data, however in the cases of death only 3 percent of the same data is missing.”
“COVID-19 has had a profound effect on the Latino community,” said Dr. Marina Del Rios of the University of Illinois College of Medicine at the governor’s news briefing.
Illinois Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike reported 2,270 new COVID-19 cases statewide Wednesday, bringing the total to 68,232, while 136 new deaths brought the Illinois toll to 2,974. Citing Hispanics as “the group with the highest proportion of positive cases in Illinois,” she blamed the same social disparities that had made African Americans more susceptible to the disease, as well as “multigenerational living spaces” and employment in essential businesses working throughout the pandemic.
“Decades of institutional inequities and obstacles for members of our Latinx communities are now amplified in this pandemic,” Pritzker said. He pointed out that a third of the state’s 200 COVID-19 testing sites are in Hispanic areas, and that all seven state drive-through testing sites are bilingual.
He too drew on targeted outreach through Jaime di Paulo, president of the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, while emphasizing that thousands of hotel rooms are available statewide for people in large families or other communal groups to self-isolate if showing coronavirus symptoms, arranged through local county health departments.
Pritzker also called for workers in essential industries to receive personal protective equipment and observe social distancing, adding, “Employers who are bad actors need to be held to account.”
A day after setting a five-phase process for four separate state regions to ease restrictions meant to minimize spread of COVID-19, Pritzker resisted efforts to speed the reopening of restaurants and bars, pointing out that would be useless if patrons don’t trust them to be safe. “The public understands this,” he said. “Even if you flung the doors open on bars and restaurants today, I think many people would say, ‘I don’t want to be in a public location like that where it’s more likely things might be transmitted.’”
The governor said it was “highly unlikely” the State Fair would go on as scheduled in August.
Ezike also counseled against people easing up and visiting relatives for Mother’s Day this weekend. “We still don’t have a cure. We still don’t have a vaccine,” she said. “So we really aren’t that far from where we were a month ago or before we started the stay-at-home order. So our elderly people are still at high risk.
“That really hasn’t changed,” Ezike added. “So we really don’t want to put anyone at risk, especially our most vulnerable. … Virtual hugs are still the order of the day. Expanding your circle will increase the risk of infection. It’s that simple.”