Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot says that 72% of all Chicago deaths related to Covid-19 have been black Chicagoans.
While presenting statistics on how Covid-19 is affecting black residents more severely than white residents, Lightfoot announced a new Covid-19 patient data order to help combat the virus' effects on Chicago, including in the hardest hit African-American neighborhoods.
Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Allison Arwady joined Lightfoot at Monday's press conference and said that 52% of the city's Covid-19 diagnoses have been in black Chicagoans.
"72% of our Covid deaths here in Chicago have been in black Chicagoans" even though they make up 30%, Arwady said.
"Those numbers take your breath away," Mayor Lightfoot said.
Lightfoot criticized health care providers for not providing needed information on Covid-19 effects demographically.
She's announcing the launch of a Covid-19 patient data order that requires healthcare providers to report the race and ethnicity of those they treat. This is "not negotiable," Lightfoot said, while announcing the new strategy in an effort to understand the full Coronavirus impact on the city.