African-Americans Disproportionally Affected By COVID-19 In Bell County
As studies have shown around the country, the African American community has felt the effects of COVID-19 at disproportionate levels and the same can be said for Black residents in Bell County.
According to a report from Jacob Sanchez of The Temple Daily Telegram, demographic data released by The Bell County Public Health District on Wednesday shows that black residents account for 32 percent of local infections while on making up only 24.4 percent of the county’s population.
Blacks in Bell County are the only demographic that have tested positive for COVID-19 at numbers greater than their estimated portion of the county’s population. - Temple Daily Telegram
Mirroring what's going on across the country, African Americans have been hit hard by the virus with environmental, economic, medical and political factors in those communities as some of the main reasons the virus is spreading fast.
For comparison, while white residents make up a majority of cases, 54 percent, they make up 65.8 percent of Bell County’s population.
Latino Bell County residents are 21 percent of all COVID-19 cases while non-Hispanic residents are 67 percent. Latino residents make up 25.3 percent of the population in Bell County.
This news comes on a day where the Bell County Public Health District reported a 9 person increase in infections and nearly 700 additional tests being performed since Tuesday. Over 5,000 tests have been conducted in Bell County.