Nashville is following the state’s lead and will begin releasing racial and other demographic data about coronavirus patients in the city.
Of the 12 deaths in Nashville thus far, all have been male; seven white and five African American. Of the city’s 104 hospitalizations, 49 were white, 12 were African American, and 43 are unknown.
At the daily briefing Wednesday morning, Dr. Alex Jahangir noted that across the country, African Americans experience disparate rates of severity and death from coronavirus. A number of sociological factors contribute to this, and Jahangir said the city will look for trends as they analyze collected data.
“The people this virus impacts the most are those individuals who are the most vulnerable medically. This happens to be disproportionately minorities and those who have limited access to health care. I think it is important to know this information with our own within our own communities,” Jahangir said.
Officials at Nashville’s testing centers only collect individuals’ names, ages and contact information when someone comes in for a test. When a test comes back positive, epidemiologists then contact those people with a larger list of questions that includes asking about race, occupation and any underlying conditions an individual might have.
“What I’m asking, as chair of the board, is let’s tabulate that better, let’s report that out more regularly. That information’s there. We just have not done as good of a job, frankly, of being able to report that to you, but we’re going to work on it.”
Jahangir emphasized that the figures are too small to make conclusions about patterns or trends. However, Mayor John Cooper did say that at the moment, the hospitalization numbers appear to be representative of Metro Nashville’s demographics.
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