Latino and Hispanic individuals are testing positive for COVID-19 at higher rates than other ethnic groups.
About 11.3% of Humboldt County residents are Hispanic or Latino, according to the U.S. Census, but they make 23.26% of positive COVID-19 cases, according to Humboldt County COVID-19 Dashboard that recently became available at humboldtgov.org. In contrast, white people make up 80.1% of the county population and make up 47.29% of positive COVID-19 cases.
This is a problem both nationally and locally, both in terms of the number of cases and complications from having the disease, Humboldt County Health Officer Teresa Frankovich said in a Wednesday video.
“Locally, the most dominant effect is a disproportionate amount of cases in our Latino community,” Frankovich said. “And to that issue, we have been really trying to work on outreach to the community. Obviously there may be language barriers and so we’re really trying to address that.”
American Indians and Alaska Natives make up 5% of the county population and 2.33% of positive test cases. Black people make up 1.2% of the population and have no positive cases so far. Asian people make up 3.1% of the local population and 2.33% of positive cases.
Multiracial people make up 6.1% of the county population and make up 2.33% of the positive cases. Other races make up 4.3% of the population, but make up 17.05% of the positive cases.
The number of cases doubles every 60 days and there was a 10.3% increase in cases this week compared to the prior week. The positivity rate over the past week was 4%, while the cumulative positivity rate is 1.23%.
The new county dashboard also gives a breakdown of the symptoms that people who test positive experience. About 50% presented with a cough; 40% with fever; 40% with headache; 30.91% with diarrhea, abdominal pain or vomiting; 29.09% with a runny nose; 27.2% with muscle aches; 22.73% with shortness of breath; 20.91% with sore throat; and 19.09% with chills.
About 10% of people had a newly lost sense of smell or taste, 9.09% of people were asymptomatic and 5.45% of people experienced discomfort.
Most of the people who have tested positive are on the younger end of the spectrum. About 10% of people who tested positive were under 19, 16.28% were in their 20s, 20.16% in their 30s, 17.83% in their 40s, 10.08% in their 50s, 17.05% in their 60s, 3.1% in their 70s, and 5.43% in their 80s.
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