Data: Coloradans of color disproportionately hospitalized

Black and Latino Coloradans were more likely to be hospitalized for COVID-19 than their white counterparts, a trend that hasn’t improved much since March, according to new data released Thursday by the state health department.

About 10% of people hospitalized for the new coronavirus were Black — approximately twice their 4.6% share of Colorado’s population, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

There were encouraging signs that the trend was changing, with the number of Black hospital patients about equal to their share of the population in late July, but that progress may have been temporary: about 15% of coronavirus patients were Black during the week ending Aug. 16.

Latino residents also were more likely to be hospitalized. About 38% of patients were Latino, while 22% of all Colorado residents are.

When the virus was first found in Colorado in March, the number of patients who were Latino was approximately in line with the percentage of residents who are, but that changed as the epidemic progressed.

At one point in May, state health officials said, more than half of Colorado’s hospitalized

COVID-19 patients were Latino.

And in further disproportionate representation, white people accounted for 41% of the state’s hospitalized coronavirus patients — even though they represent nearly 68% of the population.

“This hospitalization data is another example of how historical inequities negatively impact health outcomes,” Jill Hunsaker Ryan, executive director of the Colorado Department of Public

Health and Environment, said in a news release.

“That fact is especially apparent during emergencies like the pandemic. CDPHE, the state of Colorado and our local partners are dedicated to eradicating these longstanding inequities.”

The initial data released Thursday is part of a broader information-gathering effort the state health department began in May, and it corroborates earlier indications that COVID-19 is impacting people of color disproportionately in Colorado and elsewhere.

A little more than half of Colorado hospitals submitted data about coronavirus cases since March 1 to the state health department. Those hospitals treated about 91% of COVID-19 patients who needed that level of care.

The data also shows older people were hit harder.

About half of hospitalized coronavirus patients in Colorado were older than 60.

The largest age group among hospitalizations were people between 50 and 69, a group that accounted for nearly 40% of the state’s hospitalizations.

And 31% of hospitalized COVID-19 patients were under 50. Only about 3% of patients were younger than 20.

Other data points released by health officials regarding people who were hospitalized for COVID-related symptoms in Colorado:

• 94% of patients tested positive for COVID-19.

• 33% of patients spent time in an intensive-care unit.

• 17% of coronavirus patients in ICUs died.

• 8% of patients who did not need ICU treatment died.

• 20% of hospitalized coronavirus patients required a ventilator.

• COVID-19 patients who survived spent an average of nine days in a hospital.

An interactive dashboard with the full data set will be published on the state health department’s website at 4 p.m. Friday.