INDIGENOUS AMERICANS DYING FROM COVID-19 NEARLY 4 TIMES RATE OF WHITES

Fri 09 April 2021:

Native Americans in the US state of Montana died from COVID-19 at rates nearly four times the rate of whites, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a report.

“During March 13 – November 30, 2020, COVID-19 incidence and mortality among AI/AN [Native American] persons in Montana were approximately twice and nearly four times those among White persons, respectively. In addition, the case-fatality rate among AI/AN persons was close to twice that among White persons,” the report said on Thursday.

Mortality was calculated by examining death certificates that cited COVID-19 as either an underlying or contributing cause of death while the case fatality rate was limited to laboratory confirmed COVID-19 cases, the report said.

The estimated cumulative COVID-19 incidence among AI/AN [Native American] persons (9,064 cases per 100,000) was 2.2 times that among White persons (4,033 cases per 100,000). During the same period, the cumulative COVID-19 mortality rate among AI/AN persons (267 deaths per 100,000) was 3.8 times that among White persons (71 deaths per 100,000), the report added.

The findings reinforce importance of using state-level surveillance to develop state and tribal COVID-19 vaccine allocation strategies and devise culturally appropriate public health measures that might help reduce COVID-19 incidence and mortality in Native American communities, according to the report.