Gov. Hogan says racial breakdown of coronavirus cases and deaths show “troubling disparities”

MARYLAND – For the first time on Thursday, Maryland added “racial distribution” statistics to its coronavirus website after some lawmakers and activists were concerned about health or testing disparities among minorities.

The state says black residents make up 37% of reported positive COVID-19 cases. According to the U.S. Census website, black residents made up 30.9% of the state’s population in 2019.

Meanwhile, white residents make up 28% of positive COVID-19 cases in a state where 58.8% of the population was white in 2019.

Asian residents make up 2% of positive COVID-19 cases in a state where the 6.7% of the population is Asian.

The state says 8% of positive COVID-19 cases are in residents of an “other” race category and race data is not available on the other 24% of positive cases.

Governor Larry Hogan tweeted on Thursday morning, “Today, we are able to publish 75% of the currently available data, which shows troubling disparities and points to a persistent public health challenge that we must address.”

As for deaths, black residents make up 44% of those who have died from coronavirus while white residents make up 31% of COVID-19 deaths.