A new study revealed 52 percent of the deaths in San Francisco linked to the coronavirus are Asian Americans.
The study from the Asian American Research Center on Health found 31 people in the city died from COVID-19 through May 5. 16 of those deaths were Asian Americans.
In addition, the study determined that the proportion of death to cases involving Asian Americans is 8.6 percent compared to 5.6% of all Californians.
“It was shocking to find out that over half of the deaths in San Francisco from COVID are Asian-American,” said Dr. Tung Nguyen, a UC San Francisco researcher who authored the study. “It wasn’t until I saw the data from California that I thought this was something that we need to make the community aware of,” he said to the Asian Journal.
Nguyen at first feared the low numbers reported in San Francisco skewed the survey results, but his reservations eased after seeing the disproportionate numbers also in the state.
The San Francisco Chronicle also reported back in April that about half of those who tested positive for coronavirus in California are Latino, Black or Asian.
“From what we know of existing health disparities, I would be surprised if we didn’t see some inequities in terms of who’s getting sick and who’s dying. We need more data on this,” said Denise Herd of UC Berkeley.
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