Virginia Department of Health announces new COVID-19 Health Equity Dashboard

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - The Virginia Department of Health announced the launch of a new COVID-19 Health Equity Dashboard on Wednesday.

This enhancement would be another step in the VDH’s efforts to provide accurate information to the public about COVID-19′s impact on different communities.

The VDH says the dashboard would use rate ratios to explore COVID-19 disparities among racial and ethnic groups in Virginia. The dashboard includes a dropdown menu that allows users to examine disparities within individual Local Health Districts.

The dashboard would include two charts the first shows rate ratios for the entirety of the pandemic, while the second shows changes over time.

It also compares case, hospitalization, death, and vaccination rates among Virginia’s Asian or Pacific Islander, Black, and Latino populations to the white population.

According to the VDH, statewide hospitalizations of Black and Latino Virginians occurred at approximately twice the rate of white Virginians. On the other hand, Latinos have been vaccinated at a higher rate than whites, while Black Virginians are slightly behind.

Statewide, rate ratios in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths for these groups have tended to decline, while rate ratios for vaccinations have tended to increase, which the VDH says indicates an improving situation in both areas.

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