The COVID-19 pandemic highlights racial disparities in health and health care, according to the president of the Seacoast chapter of the NAACP.

Rogers Johnson said disparities have been noted for 40 years, but not until now, when the nation has seen minorities more affected by COVID-19, has the issue become an action priority.

People are talking about it now due to the coronavirus. This population has always been adversely impacted, Johnson said last week.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, current data suggest blacks are over-represented among those hospitalized for COVID-19.

In New York City, identified death rates of blacks are more than double that of whites, with 92.3 deaths per 100,000, compared to 45.2 deaths per 100,000.

In New York City, Hispanics and Latinos had 74.3 deaths per 100,000, and Asians had 34.5 deaths per 100,000, according to the CDC.

Johnson said blacks are more likely than whites to have diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure, often for reasons related to lack of access to jobs with health insurance, lack of access to housing in suburbs and poorer diets.

Johnson said minorities are struggling to get masks as federal and state officials tell people to cover their faces in public when social distancing is not possible.

Think about a person of color who has to get on the internet to get a mask. ... Think about that person of color who doesnt have the internet, Johnson said.

Johnson praised state officials for breaking down COVID-19 statistics by race. He hopes they will start revealing where those people live.

In the last weekly summary from the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, race was identifiable in 80% of the states confirmed COVID-19 cases.

Although according to U.S. Census Bureau population estimates, 1.4% of the states population is black or African American, blacks account for 5.4% of COVID-19 cases in which race could be identified.

People who identify as Hispanic or Latino make up 3.9% of the states population and accounted for 6.1% of the cases. Asians, who are 3% of the population, made up 3.2% of the cases.

By contrast, whites are 90% of the population and 81% of the cases, according to the summary.

On Thursday afternoon, a spokesperson at the states Joint Information Center said he did not know how the numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the minority population were specifically collected, saying some people have been tested at hospitals while others are being tested at clinics.

The state used data collected by Kenneth Johnson, a senior demographer at the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire for their overall population data.

Johnson said on Thursday that these numbers are very informed estimates.

Theyre the best estimates we have on what the population of New Hampshire looks like, Johnson said.

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COVID-19 raising awareness of racial disparities in health care - The Union Leader