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70 Percent Dead Of COVID-19 In Louisiana Were Black, 66 Percent Had Hypertension, New Data Shows

Travis Lux
/
WWNO

The Louisiana Department of Health released new information on race, ethnicity and underlying conditions of those who have died of COVID-19.

That includes two big pieces of information mentioned by Gov. John Bel Edwards at his press conference yesterday: 70.48 percent of those who have died of COVID-19 so far in Louisiana were black and 66.4 percent had hypertension. 

Previously, the most prevelant underlying condition was given as diabetes — present in 40 percent of the dead.

Here's the full breakdown of race:

Black: 70.48 percent
White: 28.61 percent
Asian: .9 percent

Ethnicity: 

Non-Hispanic/Latino: 98 percent
Hispanic/Latino: 2 percent

Underlying conditions:

Hypertension: 66.4 percent
Diabetes: 43.52 percent
Chronic kidney disease: 25.1 percent
Obesity: 24.7 percent
Cardiac disease: 22.67 percent
Pulmonary: 13.97 percent
Congestive heart failure: 11.54 percent
Neurological: 10.93 percent
Cancer: 9.92 percent
Asthma: 4.66 percent

This information will be updated weekly, according to the state.

Ashley Dean is the digital news editor for New Orleans Public Radio. Before coming to New Orleans, she was the editor of Denverite, a digital news startup now under the Colorado Public Radio umbrella. Prior to that she was a copy editor and features writer at the Denver Post, and before that, a music reporter for the Colorado Daily. She graduated from Columbia University with a master's degree in journalism and from Northeastern University with a bachelor's degree in journalism.

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