City wants race-based, job data on COVID cases
Toronto Public Health stats show low-income, racialized areas worst hit
The City of Toronto urged the province Monday to immediately begin collecting racebased and occupational data on COVID-19 cases, calling preliminary information showing the pandemic’s disproportionate impacts “disturbing.”
In a letter addressed to top provincial health officials, Toronto Board of Health chair councillor Joe Cressy (Spadina—Fort York) highlighted data collected by Toronto Public Health which shows that areas of the city with the highest percentages of people who are lowincome, racialized and recent immigrants have the highest case rates of COVID-19.
“It is clear that this is a virus that preys on poverty and existing health inequities. In order to tackle COVID-19, we must fully understand the virus, and who is most at risk,” Cressy writes, noting that city council voted last week to send the request.
“We need to have access to this data on a province-wide scale,” the letter adds.
More robust health data from the U.S. and U.K. has shown that Black and other racialized groups are more at risk from the pandemic, with significantly higher death rates. African Americans are particularly at risk, a group that suffers from inequitable access to health care, among other forms of discrimination that impact health outcomes.
In April, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. David Williams, said the collection of race-based data wasn’t necessary, because “regardless of race, ethnic or other backgrounds, they’re all equally important to us.” On May 6, the province reversed course and said it would begin collecting race-based and socio-economic data on COVID-19 cases.
Last week, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Health told the Star that regulatory changes were needed to collect this information, and that in the meantime local public health units could do it themselves on a voluntary basis.
“We recognize that this data is important in order to guide our decision-making on how to protect vulnerable groups who may be at a higher risk for COVID-19. We are working expeditiously with stakeholders and other experts to make sure that this information is collected thoughtfully and with a view to protecting the privacy of individuals,” said Hayley Chazan.
Dr. Kwame McKenzie, a physician and the CEO of the urbanhealth-focused Wellesley Institute, noted that many other regulatory changes had been fasttracked during the pandemic.
“If we’re a country that prides ourselves on diversity, we need to ask ourselves very hard why we’re not doing what’s necessary to promote equity between our diverse populations,” he said.
In Monday’s letter, addressed to Williams and Health Minister Christine Elliott, Cressy described the voluntary, patchwork approach as insufficient. Toronto Public Health has been collecting individual-level racebased and socioeconomic data on COVID-19 cases, but says there is not yet enough data to offer any firm conclusions; the neighbourhood-based analyses released so far have been based on blunter, less specific postal code information.
“What we have learned is both disturbing and crucial for informing our understanding of this virus,” Cressy writes, referring to Toronto’s data collection efforts so far.
The letter calls on the province to not only begin collecting race-based, occupational and other socio-economic data immediately, but to share it with the public as well as public health units.
While Black health leaders and other experts have called for the collection of race-based data, some fear it will be misused in ways that will advance discrimination.
“Like all data, we need to make sure that it’s not just collected, but it is properly used,” McKenzie said.