Published 15:22 IST, August 8th 2020
COVID-19: CDC reports reveal racial disparity among children hospitalised in US
Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, 2 reports which were released by the CDC has hinted at racial disparity in among children getting the virus
Amidst the coronavirus pandemic, two reports which were released by the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has hinted at the fact that there may be racial disparities in regards to how the coronavirus has impacted different communities in the US. The US is currently the epicentre of the deadly coronavirus in the world with the highest number of cases and deaths.
Virus reveals racial disparity
The reports by CDC examined children that had contracted COVID-19 and required hospitalization, the report found that Hispanic children and children belonging to the Africa-American community were hospitalized at a rate which was eight times and five times higher respectively than white kids.
According to reports, the impact of the virus on children, and not only in a direct way has become a major political issue in the United States with US President Donald Trump pushing for schools to re-open. But the recent report by CDC has shown that even though adults and older persons are more vulnerable to the disease, children are still being hospitalized and dying because of COVID-19.
As per the CDC report, the rate of hospitalization for Hispanic children in the US was 16.4 per 100,000 while for the black community it was 10.5 per 100,000. Shockingly the hospitalization rate for white kids has only been recorded as being 2.1 per 100,000.
The second CDC report examined cases of a rare virus-associated syndrome in kids and discovered that three-quarters of the kids afflicted by this syndrome were Hispanic or black, which is well above their representation in the general population.
The deadly coronavirus which began in an illegal wet market in Wuhan, China last year has quickly spread all over the world, the virus named COVID-19 by the World Health Organisation has infected 19,379,517 people worldwide and the global death toll stands at 721,375. As per the John Hopkins coronavirus resource centre, the United States has reported a total of at least 4,941,796 positive virus cases and has a death toll of 161,356. The US currently has the highest number of reported cases in the world, making it the epicentre of the deadly virus.
Updated 15:21 IST, August 8th 2020