Infected whites, blacks dying from virus at much higher rates in Henrico than statewide
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Whites in Henrico known to have tested positive for COVID-19 are dying at a rate nearly three times the state average for their race, while blacks in the county with confirmed cases have a mortality rate more than twice the state average for theirs.
The death rate for whites in the county who have tested positive is nearly 16 percent, while the state average among infected whites is just 5.3 percent.
The death rate for blacks in Henrico who have tested positive is about 12 percent; the state average among blacks infected with the virus is about 5 percent.
Henrico’s numbers likely are skewed by the abundance of cases – and fatalities – involving nursing home and senior community residents, who have accounted for the majority of Henrico’s 98 deaths, a total that is second-highest in the state behind Fairfax County’s 128. (Arlington is third with 32.)
Overall, Henrico’s death rate among all those known to be infected with the virus is about 11.5 percent, easily the highest in the state among localities with more than several deaths, although that figure also likely is skewed by the nursing home outbreaks and is inflated since only about 3,000 of the county’s 330,000 residents – or less than 1 percent – have been tested.
Still, the statewide death rate among all those known to be infected is only about 3.5 percent; as in Henrico, only about 1 percent of the state's residents have been tested.
Blacks compose almost 43 percent of Henrico’s total number of confirmed cases of the virus, even though they make up just about 30 percent of its total population. Statewide, blacks make up about 20 percent of the population but actually account for only 18 percent of the known COVID-19 cases.
Whites make up just more than half of Henrico’s population and are responsible for almost 38 percent of its confirmed cases of the virus. Statewide, whites compose about 70 percent of Virginia’s overall population but account for just 34 percent of its confirmed COVID-19 cases.
Race has not reported in about 16 percent of the county’s confirmed cases.
