More than 75 percent of the children who die from COVID-19 are minorities, says CDC

JACKSONVILLE, Fla — According to the latest data by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 75 percent of the children who died from COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus, are minorities.

“It’s horrible it’s unacceptable it should not happen,” said Dr. Mobeen Rathore.

You can hear the indignation in the voice of Dr. Rathore. He’s the chief of pediatric infectious disease and immunology for Wolfson Children’s Hospital.

“These disparities or inequities have always existed, the pandemic has made it become more obvious,” said Dr. Rathore.

Action News Jax reached out to him to get his take on this alarming new data from the CDC which shows 78 percent of children dying from COVID19 are Hispanic, Black or American Indian.

And here’s how it breaks down among the largest age group 5 to 17, 39.5 percent were Hispanic, followed by Black children at 26.3 percent.

One of those kids was 9-year-old Kimora Lynum from Putnam County, known as ‘Kimmie’ to family and friends.

READ: Local family grieves death of 9-year-old from coronavirus complications

“But here’s the statistic, children of color only form 41 percent of the population,” said Dr. Rathore. “As bad as 75 percent is, you put it in context [and] it’s horrible.”

The CDC said most of the children who died had underlying conditions but Dr. Rathore said that also ties back to systemic problems such as, lack of access to healthcare.

“We have been advocating for better access equity and health and healthcare,” said Dr. Rathore.

Just like it takes a village to raise a child, it’ll take an entire city, state or even country to address this problem.

“How do we begin to do that?” asked Lorena Inclán.

“We begin to do that in a structured organized manner. We need to invest. These things are not going to happen just by themselves,” said Dr. Rathore.

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Cox Media Group