Gov. Mike DeWine announced Monday that he created the Minority Health Strike Force due to the coronavirus disproportionately impacting minority groups.
Ohio Department of Health (ODH) data shows that 22 percent of Ohioans who have tested positive for the Chinese virus in Ohio are black, which makes up 14 of the state’s population, according to the governor’s press release.
“We must recognize that there are many Ohioans who have an increased risk of being disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, and we must do everything we can to protect all Ohioans from this pandemic,” he said.
DeWine said that this “data is not complete” and that the number of COVID-19 cases in the black community is “certainly higher.”
Here is the demographic break down of coronavirus cases in Ohio:
- White people: 49 percent
- Black people: 22 percent
- Unknown: 11 percent
- Other: 10 percent
- Multiracial: 7 percent
- Asian people: 1 percent
The health task force consists of 38 people who have backgrounds in government, private sector, civil rights and religion.
Ohio is the latest state to create a task force trying to address the racial disparities in coronavirus cases. In the 26 states reporting cases by demographics, black people account for 34 percent of their COVID-19 deaths, according to John Hopkins University. United States Census Bureau data from 2018 estimates that black people account for 13 percent of America’s population.
As Ohio tries to address racial discrepancies in coronavirus cases and deaths, another category it seems to be forgetting about is the disproportions in how this virus affects men compared to women.
Currently, 60 percent of the cases in Ohio belongs to men. According to the World Population Review, males only make up 49 percent of the state’s population.
Ohio has not announced if it will create a task force to address the gender disparity.
As of Tuesday, Ohio has 13,725 confirmed cases with 538 deaths, according to the ODH.
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Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of Star News Digital Media. If you have any tips, email Zachery at [email protected].
Photo “Mike DeWine” by The Ohio Channel.
