Originally published by The Gulf Coast Minority Chamber of Commerce.
Listed below are some details concerning the current demographic breakdown of COVID-19 cases in Escambia County. I have been capturing data over the last several weeks and compiled some of the trends for your review. There are a few high-level summary statistics followed by some supporting information.
A goal of the Gulf Coast Minority Chamber of Commerce, GCMCC, is to increase the local Small and Minority Businesses involvement in our community. As part of this goal, it is essential that we understand areas where underserved citizens may encounter significant challenges. Once we identify a baseline, we can work together as a community to identify possible solutions to address the issues.
I will forward you a separate memo with a summary of the CDC published details related to Racial and Ethnic items. Here’s a link to the website with the full details – – > https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/racial-ethnic-minorities.html
Copied below is the “Coronavirus: Summary for Escambia County date for May 19, 2020” table. The table was taken from the daily emails provided by Dr. John Lanza with the Subject Line titled “The State of Florida Issues COVID-19 Updates”. The Florida Department of Health provides a report detailing surveillance data for every Florida county at this website location http://ww11.doh.state.fl.us/comm/_partners/action/report_archive/county/county_reports_20200519.pdf The report can be found as part of the Florida COVID-19 Response website ( selected from the “See County Report” for each county’s table ).
Baseline: Per DataUSA’s 2018 information (https://datausa.io/profile/geo/escambia-county-fl ):
– The Percentage of Black Alone residents in Escambia County is approximately 22% (15% Black Alone for the state of Florida).
– White Alone Escambia residents are approximately 64% (53% White Alone for the State of Florida).
– I will be using that DataUSA details since it is the most current.
– NOTE: Per the 2010 Census, Escambia County’s Black Only percentage was 23% (State of Florida = 17%). White Alone was 69% (State of Florida = 77%), White Alone (not Hispanic/Latino) was 53.5% (State of Florida = 64.2%). https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/escambiacountyflorida
- Escambia county Black residents have been consistently trending above the 22% percentile in all three Florida Department of Health measured COVID-19 categories (Positive Cases, Hospitalizations, and Deaths).
- The COVID-19 Positive cases are 36% Black compared to 47% White. NOTE: There is 3% with Race listed as Other and 15% with Race listed as UNKNOWN.
- The COVID-19 Hospitalizations are 50% Black compared to 45% White. The Black patients’ percentage is TWICE the amount of Black percentage of our residents (2018 percent of 22% Blacks in Escambia County multiplied by 2 = 44%). NOTE: the highest recent amount was 53% on May 15th.
- The COVID-19 Deaths is 33% for Blacks and 67% for Whites. The Black deaths are 11% higher than you would expect from a county with 22% Black residents.
- Although the percentages are not listed above. Escambia County has more Women (350) positive cases than Males (249). From looking at the May 20th dashboard report: the Women percentage is 58% and the Men percentage is 42%.
– NOTE: 2010 Census for Escambia County = 50.5% and State = 51.1%
Listed below are snapshots from several days of charts that I have personally gathered. I have a message out to Dr. Lanza and the State Health Department to determine if a more complete list can be obtained. If any discrepancies exist, it may be the result of when the verified data was obtained, format changes in the reporting process or my collection process (the public data seems to be overwritten daily).
| Positive Cases – Percentages | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 May | 19 May | 17 May | 15 May | 10 May | 01 May | 30 Apr | 28 Apr | 27 Apr | 26 Apr | 25 Apr | |
| White | 47% | 46% | 46% | 46% | 46% | 46% | 46% | 48% | 46% | 48% | 50% |
| Black | 36% | 35% | 35% | 35% | 35% | 35% | 35% | 35% | 32% | 35% | 31% |
| Men | 42% | 45% | |||||||||
| Women | 58% | 55% |
| Positive Cases – Numbers | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 May | 19 May | 17 May | 15 May | 10 May | 01 May | 30 Apr | 28 Apr | 27 Apr | 26 Apr | 25 Apr | |
| White | 280 | 276 | 270 | 267 | 270 | 270 | 271 | 205 | 270 | 193 | 193 |
| Black | 215 | 211 | 204 | 202 | 204 | 204 | 206 | 137 | 204 | 125 | 118 |
| Men | 249 | 248 | 190 | 181 | 174 | ||||||
| Women | 350 | 343 | 233 | 218 | 212 |
| Hospitalizations – Percentages | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 May | 19 May | 17 May | 15 May | 10 May | 01 May | 27 Apr | |
| White | 45% | 43% | 42% | 42% | 42% | 44% | 42% |
| Black | 50% | 52% | 52% | 53% | 53% | 49% | 53% |
| Hospitalizations – Numbers | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 May | 19 May | 17 May | 15 May | 10 May | 01 May | 27 Apr | |
| White | 28 | 26 | 25 | 24 | 25 | 19 | 25 |
| Black | 31 | 31 | 31 | 30 | 31 | 21 | 31 |
| Deaths – Percentages | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 May | 19 May | 17 May | 15 May | 10 May | 01 May | 27 Apr | |
| White | 67% | 67% | 65% | 65% | 65% | 65% | 65% |
| Black | 33% | 33% | 35% | 35% | 35% | 35% | 35% |
| Deaths – Numbers | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 May | 19 May | 17 May | 15 May | 10 May | 01 May | 27 Apr | |
| White | 14 | 14 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 13 |
| Black | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 |
