Utah’s population identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as Hispanic or Latino has four and a half times the rate of Covid-19 experienced by non-Hispanic white Utahns.
Despite being only 14 percent of the state’s population, they make up 36 percent of Utah’s coronavirus cases. Compare that to Utah’s non-Hispanic white population which comprises 78 percent of the state, but just 44 percent of the Covid-19 cases.
Some likely factors:
Utah Hispanics or Latinos tend to live in Utah’s biggest cities and counties and population density tends to correspond to infection rates.
Utah Hispanics or Latinos make less money on average than non-Hispanic white Utahns. A Fox 13 analysis of census data shows Hispanics in Utah earn less compared to their white counterparts than Hispanics or Latinos in every other state in the American West.
Hispanics tend to be as healthy as non-Hispanic white Americans. The Kaiser Family Foundation says Hispanics report 2 percent less prevalence of asthma, 2 percent more diabetes, and exactly the same prevalence of heart disease compared with their fellow Americans who are non-Hispanic whites.