People of color all over the country and Multnomah County suffer a disproportionate burden of disease and death (link is external) from COVID-19.

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University report (link is external) found, for example, that in states reporting racial and ethnic data on COVID-19 cases, blacks and African Americans make up only 13% of the population. But in these states, black residents account for about one-third of COVID-19 deaths.


These inequalities have spread to Oregon, where people of color are overrepresented in cases and are more likely to suffer complications of the virus.

The most obvious gap is: Latin Americans account for 13% of the state’s population and 27% of cases. This gap was caused by an outbreak in Washington County, where nearly half of the people were positive (the link is external) because the virus was identified as Latin-more than double the number of Hispanic residents in Washington County.