Health officials shed light on COVID-19 racial health disparities in Dane County

While reports show people of color dying of COVID-19 disproportionately in other cities, public health officials said the data doesn't show the same trend in Dane County.

Next door in Milwaukee County, data shows 54 percent of those who died of COVID-19 are black, while African-Americans only make up 27 percent of the population.

Public health officials released

analyzing the relationship between COVID-19 and race in Dane County.

The data shows three quarters who tested positive for COVID-19 are white and 8 percent are black. The findings illustrate the opposite of what's happening in Milwaukee County.

Grande said if everyone was tested, the data could look different. She said the county has limited tests and there aren't enough for widespread testing.

"While we're not seeing it in the data, it's my fear it's because of the lack of testing and lack of bigger picture of what's going on,” Katarina Grande, Public Health Madison and Dane County COVID-19 response data team lead said. "We see inequities in maternal health and chronic disease, why are we not seeing it here? What's going on with the data?"

Lisa Peyton-Caire, The Foundation for Black Women's Wellness CEO and Founder, is committed to eliminating health disparities and other barriers impacting the lives of African American women and girls.

She explained access to healthcare and bias in delivery of care has been a national issue and the COVID-19 pandemic is amplifying it.

"We’re exposed in a number of ways as a community and this pandemic has shown the tremendous gaps in healthcare quality, access and social and economic equal opportunity," Peyton-Caire said.

She explained recently the black community has been blamed individually for contracting the virus at a higher rate.

"We are concerned about the rhetoric around 'black folks need to be responsible' and blaming us for levels of infection," Peyton-Caire said.

She said there are other factors that play a role in communities of color becoming infected with COVID-19 disproportionately to other races.

"We know the culprit is systemic access to care, timely access to care, bias in the delivery of care, social and economic disparities that place us at a greater disadvantage of having access to care and not having paid time off to see about care," Peyton-Caire said. "We're on the front lines of the most underappreciated jobs in our community that are essential for all of our survival. All of the pieces are playing into this and we need to look systemically at those drivers of COVID-19 outcomes and not at individual behaviors."

Grande explained racial health disparities in Dane County existed before the COVID-19 pandemic and they have not just disappeared. She said it's important for public health officials to understand what's underneath the numbers.

"I can talk about the data and what's in the data, but it's important to talk to voices of color and leaders who experience the pandemic in ways the data can't describe well," Grande said.

Public health officials said they'll continue to monitor the COVID-19 data by race in Dane County.