A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that Hispanic and Black children are at a disproportionate rate affected by the coronavirus pandemic, underlining how minority communities in the country are hardest hit by COVID-19 .
The report, released Friday, uses pediatric data collected from 14 states, including California, Georgia, New York and Ohio, between March 1 and July 25. The agency notes that children are still at lower risk for serious COVID-19 complications such as hospitalization, but concludes that black and Hispanic children are more likely to have such symptoms than their white peers.
Among 526 children for whom racial and ethnicity information was reported, 241 (45.8%) were Hispanic, 156 (29.7%) were black, 74 (14.1%) were white; 24 (4.6%) were non-Hispanic Asian as Pacific Islander; and four (0.8%) were non-Hispanic American Indian / Alaska Native, “the report states.
“These data will help to better define the clinical spectrum of disease in children and the contributions of race and ethnicity and underlying medical conditions to hospitalizations and outcomes,” the report added. “Reasons for differences in COVID-19 associated rates of hospitalization by race and ethnicity are not fully understood.”
The report follows other data showing that Black and Spanish adults were disproportionately affected by the disease.
The latest CDC report comes as some schools around the country have begun to return to personal tutoring, despite vocal opposition from Democratic lawmakers and some health experts. Democrats have argued that school districts need more money and resources to be able to rehabilitate effectively.
President Trump
Donald John TrumpJoe Arpaio loses bid for his old position as Sheriff Trump blames opinion that Russia denigrates Biden: ‘No one is harder on Russia than I am’ Trump truncates executive orders over economy but will not yet report and its board have called for schools to reopen for face-to-face instruction, with an emphasis on reopening as part of a broader effort to restart the economy. Trump previously threatened to withhold federal funding from school districts that opt for virtual learning.
While some schools have physically reopened, a large portion of U.S. schools – including some of the country’s largest districts – have announced in recent weeks that they will be teaching just before the fall.
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