Younger Hispanic residents of Kane County have been hospitalized for COVID-19 and have died with the virus at disproportionately high rates, new health department data shows.
The data confirms what community advocates say they have long known: that Kane County has faced the same COVID-19 inequities that have played out across the country. But public information about the local communities most affected by COVID-19 deaths has been hard to come by.
The data also highlights the need to reach the county’s Black and Hispanic communities with vaccines, Kane County Assistant Director of Community Health Michael Isaacson said, as small fractions of the county’s doses to date have been administered to Black and Hispanic residents.
“At the high level, these inequities show us that as a society we have a long way to go to get everybody better access to good health,” Isaacson said. “Specific to COVID, I think this data shows how important it is that we get vaccine to our Black and Latinx communities.”
The information obtained by the Beacon-News shows vast divides in those who have died of COVID-19 when broken down by age.
In those under age 60, Hispanic residents made up about 68% of Kane County COVID-19 deaths through February 8 and about 64% of hospitalizations among younger residents for severe cases of the illness. That stands in contrast to the 32% of Kane County’s population that is Hispanic.
Black residents, who comprise 6% of Kane County’s population, made up 6% of deaths among younger residents and 7% of hospitalizations, according to the health department.
The data does not include those who did not indicate their race or ethnicity, which Isaacson said could be about one-quarter of cases.
It “illustrate(s) the disproportionate burden of severe illness and death due to COVID-19 in the Hispanic/Latinx community,” according to the health department.
Deaths across all ages, including those over age 60, were more proportional. Isaacson said that was largely due to a high number of elderly white residents who have died of the virus, including nursing home residents.
The health department information also shows that the rate of COVID-19 cases in the county was nearly twice as high among Hispanic people as white people. The rate of cases among Black people was comparable to white people.
The data marks the first time information about race, ethnicity and COVID-19 deaths has been made widely available in Kane County, as the nation has grappled with the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Black and Hispanic communities.
The state has published county-level demographic information about COVID-19 cases, but not deaths. Some individual counties, including nearby Lake and DuPage, publish death information, though the data included is slightly different in each place making it hard to compare.
The Kane County Health Department doesn’t regularly track the demographic information, but does analyze and compile it into reports from time to time when officials give presentations in the community, including the report provided by the health department to the Beacon-News, Isaacson said. The information is not published regularly by the health department because such reports are time- and labor-intensive to compile, he said.
The Kane County Coroner’s Office provides some information about COVID-19 deaths, including the ages of those who died and where they are from, but it does not provide information about their race or ethnicity. The coroner’s office denied a Beacon-News request for more detailed information, saying in part the information was not contained in an easy-to-provide format.
Jaime Garcia, executive director of the Elgin advocacy organization Centro de Informacion, said the new information might not make a huge difference in the community, because many people will continue to do what they have to do to get by. Still, more information is always better, he said.
“Even if only a handful of (people) get this information, this handful of information, it makes a difference in their lives,” he said. “That’s better than nothing at all.”
He wasn’t surprised by the data. Over the past year, many residents have come to Centro seeking help because a family member lost a job due to COVID-19 or contracted the virus and was unable to work.
Garcia said Hispanic residents are likely bearing a disproportionate share of Kane County COVID-19 cases and deaths because of their jobs and access to healthcare. Many work in close proximity to others in factories. Some might not be able to take sick days or might not have health insurance, making it likely they will not see a doctor or go to a hospital emergency room until they are very ill. By then, they are likely to have infected others at work or in multigenerational homes.
Isaacson said the trends could also be a reflection of several other social determinants, including residents’ underlying conditions and health status going into the pandemic.
To Isaacson, the data could be useful to those making decisions about whether to receive the vaccine. It also highlights the need to get vaccines to Black and Hispanic communities.
“Anybody who may have a concern about the vaccine, I think giving them the real information about who in the community is getting sick, who is going to the hospital and, ultimately, who we’re losing to this virus, I think that is important information for people to keep in mind when they’re making a decision about whether or not to get a vaccine that can protect them and those around them,” he said.
Of the more than 66,500 vaccine doses administered in Kane County by Friday, 10% had gone to people identified as Hispanic and nearly 3% of recipients were Black. Nearly 70% of the doses went to people identified as white.
Isaacson said one explanation for the discrepancy in doses could be because a large number of the healthcare workers who made up the first group eligible to receive the vaccine are white. Now that vaccinations have opened to a wider group of people, however, the health department is looking to ensure a more proportional distribution of vaccines, he said.
The health department is working with larger companies that employ diverse populations to set up vaccination events, he said. Officials are currently working with four companies, but he declined to specify which ones because plans are not final and depend on the supply of vaccine.
The health department is also looking to work with churches and community leaders to provide vaccine education and opportunities to receive shots closer to where residents live, which could be key if transportation is a challenge, he said. It has sponsored listening sessions and forums with community groups and at least one large county school district, he said. At the beginning of February, the health department worked with the state to hold a large COVID-19 event in Carpentersville and reached out to employers to participate, he said.
“We’re committed to getting the vaccine to all of our populations, and that includes populations who have been disproportionately impacted by COVID,” he said. “And we appreciate a complex set of conditions that have led to those inequities, so we understand that it’s going to take specific strategies for us to make sure that we get the vaccine to everyone who needs it.”
Garcia said Centro, too, was working on a program with the Gail Borden Library to provide information about vaccines and testing in the community, pending funding. In his experience, demand for vaccine is high as residents see their neighbors and family members contracting the virus, but they might not have the ability to navigate a complex and largely digital signup system.
“If people are really concerned about the communities that are being underserved, they can’t just wait for them to be served,” he said. “It has to be done. Whether it’s Kane County or whether it’s the medical providers, whether the clinics … there’s got to be a way to get these people in and get them vaccinated, otherwise it’s just going to continue on.”
sfreishtat@tribpub.com
