Illinois Covid-19 Cases By Race

Covid-19 cases are demonstrated by race from March 2020 to June 2020 with Latinx being hit the most.

By: Hajra Qaiser

This graph represents the races hit most by Covid-19

When Covid-19 unexpectedly hit the world no one knew what to expect. Eventually, Covid-19 hit every corner of the world, thus being declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization also known as WHO. While all of Illinois was being hit by Covid-19, Chicago was hit the hardest at the beginning of March 2020. Since March 2020, Chicago has had 280,000 cases and 8,741 deaths.

The data taken from the Chicago Department of Health’s website demonstrates the races most effected by Covid-19 from March 1 to June 1. In this case, Latinx were the most affected. The Latinx community exceeded the 500 person mark, thus demonstrating that they had it the worst. While the individuals who didn’t declare their race came in second for most effected. Blacks placed at third and Asians were the least affected by Covid-19.

The chart above isn’t shocking due to the fact in Chicago the Latinx are often times neglected. A lot of the focus from state and local governments is on communities that are White or even Asian. The question, however, is why were Latinx affected the most instead of Blacks when they had it the worst at the start? Why are Asians and Whites being affected the least? Perhaps because for years Asian and White communities have better resources from money, to hospitals, to better schools and etc.

If there wasn’t such a huge divide between these races and their communities, then would the Latinx not have suffered as much? The question is what can we do as a city to bridge this gap so Latinx don’t have to face the consequences of Covid-19 as worse as they did at the start.