Board of County Commissioners approves Commissioner Monestime’s legislation calling for demographic report on COVID-19 cases

MIAMI-DADE – The Miami-Dade County Commission on May 5 approved legislation sponsored by Commissioner Jean Monestime that calls for the County administration to prepare a report analyzing the breakdown of COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths by race and other demographic factors in Miami-Dade County. The legislation furthers calls on the County administration to develop a plan to provide additional support to any population disproportionately affected. In addition, the Commission adopted legislation sponsored by Commissioner Jean Monestime urging the United States Congress and the CDC to include race, ethnicity and other demographic information in publicly released data regarding individuals who tested positive for COVID-19.

According to newly released data from the Florida Department of Health, Miami-Dade blacks who have tested positive for the disease have died at a rate of 4.6 percent compared to a rate of 3.1 percent for white people and 1.7 percent for people whose race is classified as “other.”

“The data shows that the growing racial disparity between our residents should be driving our decisions in regards to coronavirus response in minority communities,” Commissioner Monestime said. “The collection of our own data will assist us in this endeavor.”