Health Department Director Dr. Debra Bogen said monitoring COVID-19 data by race is important because the department knows that communities of color already have poorer health outcomes in Allegheny County, and it is critical to know if COVID-19 is affecting those communities to a greater degree. 
 
More than half of COVID-19 test results that come to ACHD through the PA National Electronic Disease Surveillance System do not contain information on race. To respond to this limitation in the data, the department recently started to ask about race during case investigation interviews.  
 
Through its case investigations, ACHD staff has been able to determine the race of a majority of the people hospitalized due to COVID-19 and all of the people who have died due to complications from the disease.  
 
As of April 11, hospitalizations and deaths by race are as follows: 

Hospitalizations by Race
White - 80
Black - 22
Other - 5
Unknown - 23
Total - 130

Deaths by Race
White - 18
Black - 1
Other - 0
Unknown - 0
Total - 19

Work is underway to add this to the county’s COVID-19 dashboard moving forward and keep the information as up-to-date as possible. However, there are still gaps and missing information when the data is originally reported, and case investigations take time.
 
ACHD is not yet reporting test data by race because we have more than half with missing data. However, the department is developing strategies using other demographic information to evaluate inequities and will share information when we are confident it is correct and useful.   
 
“The entire staff at the Health Department and I are committed to providing data to the public that is accurate and informative and that examines issues of equity. We are in the process of refining our dashboard to do so,” said Dr. Bogen.  
 
The coronavirus pandemic is affecting communities across the world. To save lives, we must stop the spread of COVID-19. People can slow the spread of the disease by washing their hands and cleaning frequently touched surfaces often, staying home as much as possible and keeping 6 feet away from people and wearing a mask if they do go out in public. 
 
Information about COVID-19 is available on the ACHD website at http://alleghenycounty.us/coronavirus.