Pritzker Highlights Coronavirus' Toll On IL Latino Community

ILLINOIS — Gov. J.B. Pritzker used his daily coronavirus briefing Wednesday to shine a "concerning spotlight" on the virus's effects on the state's Latino community. Pritzker said data collected since the start of the coronavirus outbreak in March shows Latinos are nearly three times as likely as the general population to test positive for the virus.

Latinos are "testing positive for COVID-19 at the highest rate of any demographic group in Illinois," Pritzker said. About 60 percent of the 26,000 people tested who self-identified as Latinos have tested positive, Pritzker said. The true infection rate among the Latino community is likely even higher, he added, since about half of people who were tested did not provide any demographic information.

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Dr. Marina Del Rios, a research and medical director at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said during the briefing that Latinos accounted for more than 40 percent of all new cases confirmed throughout the state in the past week.

The state has entered into testing partnerships at more than 200 sites in the state, and a third are located in areas with large Latino populations, Pritzker said. Sites were chosen for their location and their ability to provide Spanish-language services, Pritzker said. The state's seven drive-thru testing sites also provide additional services for Spanish-language speakers.

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"Decades of institutional inequities and obstacles for members of our Latinx communities are now amplified in this pandemic," Pritzker said. "And while we can't fix generations of history in the span of a few months, we must address inequity in our public health response today, everywhere and anywhere we can."

Pritzker said the Illinois Department of Public Health is establishing a COVID-19 equity task force that will work to develop plans and communication strategies to educate communities of color and vulnerable populations on coronavirus-related resources.