Congressional Black Caucus calls on CDC to report racial data

The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) is calling on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to report racial data in updates on the coronavirus outbreak after figures reported by certain states and counties showed black Americans are disproportionately affected by the pandemic.

The group sent a letter to the CDC on Tuesday requesting the data after sending a separate letter to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) last week. A CDC official told The Hill that the agency will provide some figures regarding race as soon as this week.

“HHS’ lack of willingness to collect and publicly disclose racial data has led some public health departments to fill the gap,” the lawmakers wrote, pointing to figures that local health officials have reported in a handful of states across the country.

Earlier this week, Chicago reported black residents account for 68 percent of the city’s 118 deaths at the time and 52 percent of the roughly 5,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, despite making up just 30 percent of the city’s population. Similar rates exist in Louisiana and in Wisconsin's Milwaukee County.