The Chronicles Of Grant County

The graph below the Read More shows the relative levels of deaths from COVID-19 Disease (COVID-19) among five major racial/ethnic groups within the State of New Mexico. The yellow line represents the number of COVID-19 deaths among Hispanic Americans in New Mexico, the green line represents the number of COVID-19 deaths among Non-Hispanic White Americans in New Mexico, and the blue line represents the number of COVID-19 deaths among Native Americans in New Mexico. The gray line, representing the number of COVID-19 deaths among Non-Hispanic Black Americans in New Mexico, and the orange line, representing the number of COVID-19 deaths among Americans of Asian and Pacific Island heritage in New Mexico, overlap one another for many months in this graph. You can click here to see a larger version of this image. (This graph was provided courtesy of the New Mexico Department of Health, June 15, 2021.)

 On March 3, 2021, the edition of The Chronicles Of Grant County detailed the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic among people in New Mexico, especially among Native Americans in the State. At that time, statistics were available from the New Mexico Department of Health through February 22, 2021. That news column followed one that detailed two reports about the decrease in life expectancy levels among three major racial/ethnic groups – Hispanic Americans, Non-Hispanic Black Americans, and Non-Hispanic White Americans from Year 2019 to Year 2020 within the United States. One of the reports was issued by the Federal government, while the other report included life expectancy level estimates prepared by researchers from two major universities and was issued by the National Academy of Sciences.

At that time, The Chronicles Of Grant County noted that those two reports made no mention of life expectancy levels of Asian Americans or Native Americans.

"We are currently working to expand the U S life table program to include life tables for the Asian and Native American populations," according to a statement issued on February 22, 2021, from the National Center for Health Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). "Problems with data quality has been the main reason we have not produced official U S life tables for these groups in the past. However, through a combination of improvement in data quality and the development of methods to address the data quality problems, we will be able to publish life tables for these populations soon."

Since the release of that statement, The Chronicles Of Grant County has asked the CDC for updates on life expectancy levels of Asian Americans or Native Americans on two additional occasions. Responses from the CDC on April 15, 2021, and on June 22, 2021, indicated that "No updates yet on the availability of [life expectancy] tables for Asian-Americans or Native Americans."

Updated statistics from the New Mexico Department of Health, however, detail that the impact on Native Americans within the State has continued to be severe.

The updated graph at the top of this news column, provided courtesy of the New Mexico Department of Health, details the relative levels of deaths from COVID-19 among five major racial/ethnic groups within the State of New Mexico as of June 14, 2021. The yellow line on the graph represents the number of COVID-19 deaths among Hispanic Americans in New Mexico, the green line represents the number of COVID-19 deaths among Non-Hispanic White Americans in New Mexico, and the blue line represents the number of COVID-19 deaths among Native Americans in New Mexico. The gray line, representing the number of COVID-19 deaths among Non-Hispanic Black Americans in New Mexico, and the orange line, representing the number of COVID-19 deaths among Americans of Asian and Pacific Island heritage in New Mexico, overlap one another for many months in this graph.

The updated graph at the end of this news column, also provided courtesy of the New Mexico Department of Health, details the actual number of COVID-19 deaths among the five major racial/ethnic groups as of June 14, 2021. The actual numbers – detailing the 4,302 human beings who died because of COVID-19 – include 1,792 Hispanic Americans, 1,255 Non-Hispanic White Americans, and 1,172 Native Americans who died of COVID-19 within the State of New Mexico from March 1, 2020, through June 14, 2021. In other words, only 83 fewer individuals with Native American heritage have died of COVID-19 in New Mexico than Non-Hispanic White Americans in the State.

To put these numbers into perspective, of all those that have died from COVID-19 in New Mexico, 41.7% were Hispanic Americans, 29.2% were Non-Hispanic White Americans, and 27.2% were Native Americans, according to the New Mexico Department of Health.

As noted in the previous news column, according to the U S Census Bureau, approximately 2.1 million people lived in the State of New Mexico in 2019. The Census Bureau reported that in 2019, approximately 11% of New Mexicans were of Native American heritage, and approximately 49% of New Mexicans were of Hispanic heritage.

The impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic among Native Americans in New Mexico – and beyond – has been devastating.

Of all of the New Mexicans that contracted COVID-19, those with Native American heritage have had a far greater likelihood of death as compared to Hispanic Americans and Non-Hispanic White Americans that contracted COVID-19. Among those aged between 60 and 69 years, 9.5% of Native Americans that contracted COVID-19 died; that level of death was more than 2.5 times the level of mortality among Non-Hispanic White Americans who had contracted COVID-19. The disparity for those aged 70 to 79 years indicated that Native Americans that contracted COVID-19 were almost twice as likely to die from COVID-19 than Non-Hispanic White Americans who had contracted COVID-19. For those 90 years of age or older, 42% of Native Americans who contracted COVID-19 died; among Non-Hispanic White Americans who contracted COVID-19, the mortality level was 33.7%.

You can view the entire report released by the New Mexico Department of Health released on June 15, 2021, by clicking here.

In Grant County, a total of 41 people have died of COVID-19 since March 1, 2020, in Grant County. That number represents about 1% of New Mexicans who have died of COVID-19. The bulk of the deaths in Grant County occurred in November and December of 2020 and in January and February of 2021. Almost half of all deaths from COVID-19 in Grant County happened in one month – in December of 2020. The last death from COVID-19 in Grant County took place in March of 2021

When the Federal government releases reports on the life expectancy levels of Asian Americans or Native Americans, The Chronicles Of Grant County will report those results.

This graph details the number of deaths from COVID-19 among five major racial/ethnic groups within the State of New Mexico. Of all those that have died from COVID-19 in the State, 41.7% were Hispanic Americans, 29.2% were Non-Hispanic White Americans, and 27.2% were Native Americans. The statistics of the human beings who have died because of COVID-19 are as of June 14, 2021, and were provided courtesy of the New Mexico Department of Health. You can click here to see a larger version of this image.

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© 2021 Richard McDonough