Public Health updates death data on COVID-19 Dashboard

To ensure patient privacy, Kern County’s COVID-19 death data is updated as enough data accumulates to prevent identification of the deceased. While data is a tool to help our community better understand the impacts of this disease, it is our responsibility to adhere to HIPAA guidelines.

COVID-19 death data is reviewed bi-weekly to determine if we have met the criteria set forth by our HIPAA statistician to release more information related to these deaths. Our last update to local death data occurred on February 5.

As of March 18, Kern County has had 1,026 deaths due to COVID-19. Below are key findings in the updated COVID-19 death data:

• Ages 65+ continue to be the most affected age group, accounting for 67.5 percent of all deaths. The 65+ group is very disproportionately affected as it only makes up 11.6 percent of Kern’s population according to CA Department of Finance 2020 population projection and only 9.3 percent of reported cases. There have been no deaths in children under the age of 18.

• The majority of deaths continue to have comorbidities. Hypertension and Diabetes are the two most common. Only 29 deaths have been reported with no comorbidities.

• Hispanics account for 59.1 percent, down from 60.2 percent, of COVID deaths. The CA Department of Finance population projection for 2020 has Hispanics at 52.6 percent of the population making this the most disproportionately affected race. African Americans make up 6.0 percent of the population and have 4.9 percent of the deaths, a decrease from 5.9 percent. Whites are less affected having 34 percent of the population but only 29.2 percent of deaths.

• Males account for 59.5 percent, a slight decrease from the previous of 60.3 percent of deaths. Males are still more affected as they only account for 50.8 percent of the population.

Kern County Public Health offers our deepest sympathies to all of those who have lost family, friends and loves ones due to this disease. This data is a reminder of the significant impact that COVID-19 has had on our community.

To view the updated COVID-19 dashboard, visit our COVID-19 webpage at http://www.kernpublichealth.com/2019-novel-coronavirus/.