In a troubling shift, Black residents of Los Angeles County now have the highest risk of coronavirus infection and COVID-19 hospitalizations and death of any racial or ethnic group, new data show.

Since the first few months of the pandemic, Latinos in L.A. County have been the hardest hit group; the COVID-19 death rate among Latino residents surpassed that of all other racial and ethnic groups for the first time 11 months ago and remained in the lead for both the second and third waves of the pandemic.

But in recent weeks, there’s been an unmistakable shift, and now Black residents are twice as likely as Latinos and three times as likely as white and Asian American residents to die from COVID-19. Black residents are also twice as likely to contract the coronavirus than white or Latino residents of L.A. County, according to data presented by the Department of Public Health.

Over a recent six-week period, there was a daily average of 45 newly diagnosed coronavirus cases for every 100,000 Black residents. Yet for every 100,000 white and Latino residents, there were roughly 25 newly diagnosed coronavirus cases a day among those residents; and for every 100,000 Asian American residents, there were 11 new coronavirus cases a day.

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