Preliminary data shows Idaho Latinos may be disproportionately affected by coronavirus
Latinos appear to be disproportionately affected by the coronavirus in Idaho, according to preliminary demographic data released by the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare on Wednesday. This follows a national trend, as communities of color bear the brunt of coronavirus infections and even deaths across the United States.
Roughly 23% of Idaho coronavirus cases with known ethnicities are Hispanic or Latino, according to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare data dashboard. Health officials were only able to verify ethnicity for 1,375 out of more than 2,100 confirmed and probable cases reported statewide through Wednesday — about 63.7%.
State health officials also released the first racial breakdowns of coronavirus cases Wednesday. Out of 1,456 cases where officials were able to confirm the race of people with coronavirus, 77% were white, 4.5% were multiracial, 2.2% were Asian, 1.5% were black or African American, 1.4% were American Indian or Alaska Native and 0.2% were Pacific Islander. About 13% of coronavirus cases were recorded as some “other race.”
Still, white Idahoans are the vast majority of COVID-19-related deaths. Only four of the 66 people who have died from coronavirus in Idaho are Hispanic, according to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare. Officials have yet to confirm the ethnicity of four people who died. Two people identified as Asian/Pacific Islander and one black person have died as well.
Not all Idaho health districts may have been consistently tracking race or ethnicity of people from the beginning, even though nearby states like Washington and Oregon have recorded coronavirus spikes in Latino communities. Southwest District Health, which encompasses the county with the most Latino residents in the state, told the Statesman in April it wasn’t collecting the data because it would not provide a “clear picture of the virus’ impact on our communities.”
All Idaho health districts are now tracking race and ethnicity data and reporting it to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, spokeswoman Niki Forbing-Orr told the Statesman Thursday.
Latinos are Idaho’s largest minority group and face some of the same language barriers and income, health, immigration status and insurance disparities as their counterparts across the country. Latino community leaders previously told the Statesman the state should record race and ethnicity so leaders could assess which areas of the state needed more Spanish outreach.
Margie Gonzalez, the executive director of the Idaho Commission on Hispanic Affairs, said the preliminary numbers were a “surprise,” given that Latinos are only about 13% of the state population. But she said the numbers likely would be higher if it weren’t for belated efforts to translate material into Spanish.
“I think there is more information being translated now and our Hispanic leaders are making a strong effort,” Gonzalez said. “It’s not going to be surprising to me if they do go up, because our efforts … really, it took a couple of weeks before we got on board.”
More than 120,000 Idaho residents speak Spanish, according to Census Bureau estimates. About 40% of those Spanish speakers —roughly 48,000 people — reported they speak English “less than well.” Many of Idaho’s Latinos and Spanish-speakers fill essential jobs, working on farms, in food processing plants and on dairies.
“I wish they would have been collecting (ethnicity data) from the beginning,” Gonzalez said. “It looks to me like there are still a lot of unknowns.”
This story has been updated to include comments from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.
This story was originally published May 6, 2020 at 8:06 PM.
