June 30, 2020/Press

NC’s Hispanic Community Bears the Brunt of Trump’s Mismanagement

New data shows that North Carolina’s Hispanic community is making up an outsize percentage of the state’s total confirmed cases of coronavirus.

The Trump administration has been sharply criticized by public health experts for failing to publicly release and account for demographic data in US coronavirus cases. The CDC apologized earlier this month for failing to keep track of the information this spring.

According to health data, the state’s Hispanic community — which accounts for only 10 percent of North Carolina’s population — makes up 46 percent of the state’s coronavirus infections.

Dr. Amina Ahmed, a pediatric infectious disease expert and epidemiologist at Levine Children’s, told WCNC that of all children being hospitalized or seeking medical attention for COVID-19, “two-thirds are Hispanic.”

“Once again, our communities of color are bearing the brunt of this administration’s failures to address the coronavirus pandemic,” said NCDP Communications Director Austin Cook. “North Carolina’s case totals continue to rise, and instead of working with state officials to stem the spread and protect our vulnerable populations, President Trump is ramping down his Coronavirus Task Force and ending funding for federal testing sites across the country. The administration’s reckless, shortsighted handling of this crisis is exactly why we’ve seen new spikes across the Sun Belt.”

As of Monday afternoon, North Carolina surpassed 63,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with more than 1,300 deaths from the virus to date.