Race-based coronavirus data not needed in Canada yet, health officials say

CALGARY-Despite a growing awareness in the United States that some minority groups might be at higher risk for the coronavirus, provincial health officials in two of Canada's hardest hit provinces say race-based data isn't needed here yet.

Dr. David Williams, Ontario's chief medical officer of health, said Friday that statistics based on race aren't collected in Canada unless certain groups are found to have risk factors. The World Health Organization hasn't yet said that's the case for coronavirus, he added.

He said resources are much more effectively used tracking down the people each infected patient had been in contact with, rather than targeting entire groups.

"Right now we consider our main risk groups (to be) the elderly, those with other co-morbidities, regardless of what race they are," he said. "Regardless of race, ethnic or other backgrounds, they're all equally important to us."

There is early evidence from the United States that shows African Americans may be disproportionately affected by the pandemic. Some large cities are seeing higher rates among their large Black populations who historically have had poorer access to health care and higher rates of poverty.

Among them is Chicago, whose mayor vowed Monday to launch aggressive public health campaigns aimed at her city's Black and brown communities after numbers showed Black residents accounted for 72 per cent of deaths from complications from COVID-19, despite making up only about one-third of the population.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot told The Associated Press that the disparities in Chicago "take your breath away" and required an immediate response from the city, community activists and health care providers.

In Alberta, chief medical officer Dr. Deena Hinshaw said they know some groups in Canada are systematically disadvantaged based on their appearance or socioeconomic status.

While the province also doesn't currently collect the race of someone who is tested or treated for coronavirus, she suggested it's something that may be looked at in future.

"The information that we collect is really focused more on risk activities and less about ethnicity," she said Friday. "But it's certainly something we need to look closely at to determine if we need to start collecting that going forward."

Hinshaw said the province has good information-sharing agreements with many First Nations in particular, so that is one way they might be able to compare numbers, though it's not something they could release publicly without the Nations' consent.

Dr. Anna Banerji, a pediatric infectious disease specialist who co-chaired the Indigenous Health Conference at the University of Toronto, says First Nations are almost certainly at higher risk.

"A lot of Indigenous people have a lot of co-morbidities. For almost any disease out there they have higher prevalence of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic obstructive lung disease," she said.

They were also significantly overrepresented in the last pandemic to hit the country. Despite representing 4.3 per cent of the population, they accounted for 27.8 per cent of hospital admissions reported to the Public Health Agency of Canada during the first wave of H1N1 in 2009, according to the National Collaborating Centres for Public Health.

Many First Nations are small or remote and face the added challenge of a historic lack of funding for things like medical services.

Banerji launched a petition last week to demand more action from the federal government, arguing Indigenous leaders have asked for more access to things like health care workers or rapid testing, but their communities have not received the same financial support as non-Indigenous towns and cities.

But while Banerji said it's important to document how coronavirus is affecting Indigenous communities, she stresses that information is only useful if it leads to more supports.

"I think it's good to collect that data," she said. "But collecting data on how we failed Indigenous people is not a very useful thing, unless you act on it."

With files from The Associated Press

Alex Boyd is a Calgary-based reporter for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @alex.n.boyd