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COVID-19 race data coming soon to Indiana

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In places across America where the data is available, an alarming number of African Americans are contracting and dying from COVID-19.

Is this happening in Indiana? In Indianapolis?

We don’t know yet.

Dr. Kristina Box, the state’s top health official, said she expects the health department to release data about race April 9 or 10.

In Chicago, African Americans make up 70% of those who have died because of the virus and more than half of those who have tested positive, despite only making up about a third of the population.

In Louisiana, where African Americans also make up about a third of the population, about 70% of those who have died from the virus were African American.

Numbers from Chicago and Louisiana were released April 6.

• Related: Battling COVID-19: ‘Is this my death march?’

U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams said on a recent appearance on “CBS This Morning” that African Americans are at a higher risk for COVID-19 because they are more likely to have preexisting conditions such as high blood pressure and heart disease, and are less likely to have access to health care.

Adams said he has high blood pressure, asthma, heart disease and is prediabetic.

“So I represent that legacy of growing up poor and Black in America,” he said. “And I and many Black Americans are at higher risk for COVID, which is why we need everyone to do their part to slow the spread.”

Dr. William Gill, local board president for the American Heart Association, said it’s too early to say exactly why African Americans — at least in the limited data available — make up a disproportionate number of deaths.

It’s still “a little speculative,” Gill said, to say for sure that it’s because of preexisting conditions, though he added that finding would be consistent with worldwide data.

It could also be the case that preexisting conditions are only part of the answer. African Americans could, for example, have a genetic predisposition that causes the virus to bond more strongly in their airways.

There just isn’t enough research related to COVID-19 to make a definitive assessment about higher mortality rates.

Once more data comes in, if it turns out that African Americans are something like twice as likely to die as a result of COVID-19 — or even more likely to contract the virus, which isn’t conclusive right now because of a lack of testing — Gill suggested it would be appropriate to make sure African Americans get priority when a vaccine is available.

Breanca Merritt, director of the Center for Research on Inclusion and Social Policy, said there are potential structural factors that overlap. That includes access to health insurance and, increasingly important during a pandemic, still having to work like normal as classified essential employees.

“Black workers are more likely to have positions where they’re not able to work from home or social distance,” she said, “and that definitely puts them at risk.”

Though specific numbers aren’t yet available for Indianapolis or Indiana, researchers at SAVI, a program part of The Polis Center at IUPUI, put together a model to show where around Indianapolis the novel coronavirus might have the biggest impact. 

The model uses two variables — socioeconomics and age — to determine if a neighborhood is at a below average, average or above average risk of getting severe or deadly cases of COVID-19.

The conclusion: “Neighborhoods just outside of downtown Indianapolis have the highest estimated risk when it comes to factors that are related to income.”

The immediate area surrounding North Sherman Drive and East New York Street, for example, is at the highest risk because more than a third of the population doesn’t have health insurance, and the asthma rates and smoking prevalence are high.

When only considering age, most of Indianapolis ranges from below average to average risk.

Contact staff writer Tyler Fenwick at 317-762-7853. Follow him on Twitter @Ty_Fenwick.

SAVI, part of The Polis Center at IUPUI, has a model to show where around Indianapolis COVID-19 might have the biggest impact. The map shows socioeconomic factors and ranges from below average (purple) to above average (yellow). (Photo/screenshot from SAVI website)

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