In April, New Orleans health officials realized their drive-through testing strategy for the coronavirus wasn't working. The reason? Census tract data revealed hot spots for the virus were located in predominantly low-income African-American neighborhoods where many residents lacked cars.
In response, officials have changed their strategy, sending mobile testing vans to some of those areas, says Thomas LaVeist, dean of Tulane University's School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and co-chair of Louisiana's COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force.
"Data is the only way that we can see the virus," LaVeist says. "We only have indicators. We can't actually look at a person and tell who's been infected. So what we have is data right now."
Until a few weeks
ago, racial data for COVID-19 was sparse. It's still incomplete, but
now 48 states plus Washington D.C., report at least some data; in total,
race or ethnicity is known for around half of all cases and 90% of
deaths. And though gaps remain, the pattern is clear: Communities of
color are being hit disproportionately hard by COVID-19.
source : https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/05/30/865413079/what-do-coronavirus-racial-disparities-look-like-state-by-state