New and emerging evidence suggests black Americans are disproportionately at risk for contracting COVID-19, in addition to experiencing higher mortality rates than other demographics; however, much of data reported to CDC are missing race/ethnicity disaggregated information. This study evaluates data from 3,142 U.S. counties to assess COVID-19 morbidity and mortality rates between counties with higher and lower proportions of black residents (≥13% or <13%).

The authors found higher rates of COVID-19 morbidity and mortality among the disproportionately black communities as well as higher rates of comorbidities.