We are all in this together

Washington State Department of Health

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Apr 26 · 3 min read

COVID-19 has shown us that no matter where in the world we live, we are all connected to one another. We watched as the virus traveled person to person all over the world. For our state to be healthy and able to control the spread of this virus, all of our people, communities, and neighborhoods need to be healthy and able to control the spread of this virus.

We are still learning about the effects of COVID-19 on the health of communities of color. According to CDC, current data suggests that people of color are more likely to get sick and die of COVID-19. A recent CDC MMWR report showed that not only did hospitalization risk increase with age, but black people with COVID-19 were also more likely to be hospitalized.

Health differences between racial and ethnic groups are often due to economic and social conditions that are more common among people of color than among whites. These same social and economic conditions can also make it harder for people of color to protect themselves from getting COVID-19.

The risk of getting COVID-19 may be higher for essential workers who are not able to stay safe at home. The likelihood of a person being employed in a job that is considered essential varies by race and ethnicity. For example, according to CDC, about 16% of whites work in service industry jobs, compared to a quarter of black and Latino workers. Latino workers account for 17% of total employment but make up 53% of agricultural workers; African Americans make up 12% of all employed workers, but account for 30% of licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses.

Existing health disparities, such as poorer underlying health and barriers to getting health care, might make some people of color especially vulnerable to COVID-19. For example, compared to whites, Latinos are almost three times as likely to be uninsured, and African Americans are almost twice as likely to be uninsured. And compared to whites, black Americans are more likely to have the chronic underlying conditions that put us at risk of getting very sick from COVID-19.

Some of the work to prevent COVID-19 addresses situations that put some people at higher risk for getting sick with COVID-19 than others. For the health of everyone in our state, we need to make sure that everyone in our state is able to go to the doctor when they are sick. That everyone can get good food to eat and have a warm place to sleep.

We need to make sure everyone has a place to wash their hands and that everyone has the ability to stay home when they are sick. We are all connected: For the state to be healthy, all of our people and communities need to be healthy.

More Information

Stay tuned to our blog for more information on how you can help stop the spread of COVID-19. Sign up to be notified whenever we post new articles.

Information in this blog changes rapidly. Check the state’s COVID-19 website for up-to-date and reliable info at coronavirus.wa.gov.

Answers to your questions or concerns about COVID-19 in Washington state may be found at our website. You can also contact our call center at
1–800–525–0127. Hours: 6 am-10 pm, seven days a week.