Study: minorities are more likely to test positive

Study: more covid-19 in nursing homes with minority groups 1:19

(CNN) -

Black and Hispanic people are twice as likely to test positive for COVID-19 as white people, even after adjusting for external factors, says a new study.

The disparity cannot be fully explained by underlying health conditions.

Nor by place of residence or care, according to the study published Tuesday in the journal PLOS Medicine.

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Christopher Rentsch, assistant professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and his colleagues examined the relationship between race and COVID-19 testing.

They did so by adjusting for multiple variables, including other health conditions and behaviors, medication history, place of care, and type of residence.

The team found that blacks were more likely to be tested than Hispanics and whites.

Blacks were tested at a rate of 60 per 1,000 people, compared with one in 52.7 per 1,000 among Hispanics and one in 38.6 per 1,000 among whites.

Covid-19 in Blacks and Hispanics Compared to Whites

This reveals figures from Medicare and Medicaid on covid-19 in the US 2:22

Among those who were tested for COVID-19, 10.2% of blacks and 11.4% of Hispanics tested positive.

This compared to just 4.4% of whites.

Although black and Hispanic people were more likely to test positive for coronavirus, the team found no differences in 30-day mortality between different ethnic groups.

The researchers found that the disparity between black and white people who tested positive for the coronavirus was greater in the Midwest than in the west of the country.

Meanwhile, the disparity between Hispanic and white people was consistent across all regions.

The team used the electronic health records of 5,834,543 people who received care at the US Department of Veterans Affairs.

Of the group, 91% were male, 74% were white, 19% were black, and 7% were Hispanic.

Of 254,595 people who were tested for COVID-19 between February and July, 16,317 tested positive and 1,057 died.

The researchers cited the low number of women and the lack of detailed information on the social determinants of health as limitations of their research.

"Understanding what is driving these disparities is vital so that strategies can be adapted to curb disproportionate epidemics in minority communities," Rentsch said in a statement.

Rentsch and his colleagues called for urgent strategies to prevent and contain COVID-19 outbreaks in minority communities.

Covid-19 Hispanics in the United States Blacks in the United States