In this July 22, 2020, file photo, a man takes a coronavirus test at a mobile site at the Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Marcio José Sánchez, File)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that of the nearly 300,000 “excess deaths” recorded this year from late January to early October, the largest percentage increase occurred among Latinos 25 to 44 years old.
According to the CDC, two thirds of the 299,038 “excess deaths” this year through October 3 were from COVID-19.
Deaths among Latinos 25 to 44 years old were 53.6% higher, as compared to the average number of deaths of Latinos from 2015-2019. Excess deaths were 11.9% higher for whites, 32.9% higher for African Americans; 28.9% higher for American Indian/Alaskan Natives; and 36.6% higher for Asian-Pacific Islanders.
The CDC defines excess deaths as “the number of persons who have died from all causes” in the U.S. above what was expected in a particular period of time.
A separate CDC analysis of pandemic-related data noted that among “114,411 COVID-19–associated deaths” in a four-month period this summer, Latinos accounted for 16.3% in May to 26.4% in August. During that period, the spread of the virus rose dramatically throughout the Southwest in states like Florida, Texas, Arizona and California.
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Poll: A Third of Registered Latino Voters Already Cast Ballot
As of Tuesday, nearly 70 million Americans had cast ballots in this year’s election, according to the nonpartisan United States Elections Project, a figure that represents more than half of the total number of people who voted in the 2016 election.
Meanwhile, a new poll found that 34 percent of Latino registered voters have already cast a ballot in the election and 68 percent plan to support the Democratic presidential nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, over President Donald Trump. Just 24 percent said they will back the president’s reelection.
The survey results are part of the nine-week 2020 Latino Weekly Tracking Poll by the NALEO Educational Fund and Latino Decisions.
With less than a week before Election Day, the spread of COVID-19 remains the top concern of Latino voters. The survey found 49% are concerned about the pandemic, followed by the high cost of health care (32%); jobs and wages (28%); racism and discrimination (25%); and immigration reform and immigrants rights (22%).
In a separate survey by Pew Research, 63% of Latino voters said the coronavirus outbreak is “a very important issue in deciding who they are voting for this election,” while 82% of African Americans and 49% of whites said the same. Only 25% Trump supporters said they described the pandemic as a “very important issue.”
According to the COVID Tracking Project, Latinos and Native Americans are dying of the coronavirus at 1.5 times the rate of whites, as compared to African Americans, who die at 2.3 times the rate of whites. The latest data show that African Americans, Latinos and Native Americans are more than twice as likely to be infected by the coronavirus.
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LULAC, MALDEF Slam Appointment to Supreme Court
The League of United Latin American Citizens called the appointment of Amy Coney Barrett by President Trump to the U.S. Supreme Court an “attack on our democracy.”
The head of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Thomas Saenz, said the Republican-led Senate confirmation process failed to “elicit [Barrett’s] awareness and knowledge of the legal issues faced by Latinos.”
“Today, politicians won and the American people lost,” said LULAC CEO Sindy Benavides, who accused Republican senators of rushing Barrett’s appointment “only days away from November 3, the culmination of one of the most critical elections of our lifetimes.
Benavides said LULAC is troubled by Justice Barrett’s views on voting rights, immigration, climate change, and reproductive rights.
“Now we are faced with the very real prospect of losing precious civil rights for decades as a result of capricious partisan politics that have no place in our legal system, much less the Supreme Court,” Benavides said.
In an open letter opposing Barrett’s confirmation and addressed to the U.S. Senate, Saenz called the process “an obscene rush to confirm the latest nominee from the president with little respect for the Constitution…”
He said Barrett was complicit in the process that Republican “senators undertook in her name,” which he called “anti-democratic and plainly inconsistent with the Senate’s constitutional duty.”
“One fundamental flaw in the Senate’s consideration of Judge Barrett,” Saenz added, “has been the complete failure to elicit her awareness and knowledge of legal issues faced by Latinos… Our nation can no longer afford to blithely overlook the prominence of the Latino community in evaluating potential justices.”
In a statement, Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said, “Judge Amy Coney Barrett will now be Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett… All Americans will be well served by Justice Barrett’s fidelity to the rule of law and her commitment to interpreting the Constitution as written…”
In a survey of Latino registered voters released this week by NALEO and Latino Decisions, 65 percent of respondents said the Senate should have waited until after the election to consider a replacement for the liberal Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who died in September after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.
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