State is analyzing COVID-19 data on basis of race; first update is released

Gov. Gavin Newsom said the California Department of Public Health has begun gathering data from counties that allows officials to analyze COVID-19 data on the basis of race.

During a Wednesday news briefing, Newsom said the state now has information on the race and ethnicities of close to 40% of the 16,957 people who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus in California.

“We have 6,306 total cases that we’ve been able to analyze on the basis of race,” Newsom said. “Looking at the total number of positive cases from a racial and ethnic lens and the total number of deaths.”

According to data compiled by this news organization, the number of confirmed positive tests in the state of California topped 17,000 on Tuesday evening.

Of the 6,306 positive cases health officials in the state have analyzed so far, the governor said 30% of the cases have been identified as Latinos, 14% as Asians and 6% from within the black community. The remaining 50% are presumably white or unidentified.

“It tracks modestly so along the lines of total population,” Newsom said.

Newsom did not provide the total number of patients who have died from COVID- 19 within the 6,306- patient subset the state has analyzed on the basis of race but said 29% of the deaths have been identif ied as Latinos, 16% as Asians and 3% as blacks.

After saying Tuesday he wanted to wait until state officials had gathered racial data on 100% of the people who have tested positive in California to release information, Newsom’s decision to release partial data represented a change in his stance.

“I said yesterday I wanted to wait until all of that data was presented, but understandably, people are eager for transparency in real time,” Newsom said.

Upon releasing the first update that included a racial and ethnic breakdown, the governor said, “It’s one thing to have that data, but it’s another to do something with it, to make the data actionable.”