Toronto Public Health is releasing new socio-economic data (race, income, etc.) about COVID-19 cases at 2PM. I'll tweet here

Dr. Eileen de Villa, the city's medical officer of health, said this data is helping them understand who is being impacted by COVID-19. They started collecting info voluntarily after the start of the pandemic

De Villa says there is growing evidence across North America and beyond that racialized and low-income folks are disproportionately affected, and while that is still being studied, connections to both poverty and racism

Limitations with data: Doesn't include care homes. People who were really sick couldn't respond to all of the questions. Data collected from May 20-July 16

De Villa’s first chart shows racial divide of COVID-19 in Toronto. Black people represent 21% of COVID-19 cases but only 9% of population

Here, the economic divide:

What this graph tells us is that of the cases with valid income data you are far, far less likely to get COVID-19 if your household makes $100,000+

De Villa also has race and income data by rate but using old census data so comes with caveats (I’ll sort that out shortly)

People living in larger households were overrepresented in reported COVID-19 infections, de Villa says. Those with 5+ people comprised 27% of cases compared to 20% of the population of Toronto

The data is now posted here: https://www.toronto.ca/home/covid-19/covid-19-latest-city-of-toronto-news/covid-19-status-of-cases-in-toronto/

Here's the same data I just shared by rate:

Mayor John Tory says the city's coffers alone (very empty these days) are not sufficient to address the systemic issues presented by this data

Dr. Kwame McKenzie, CEO of the Wellesley Institute, calls data "very concerning" because it seems to confirm their worry that racialized and low-income residents in Toronto are doing worse during this pandemic and should lead to immediate action

"COVID-19 discriminates," McKenzie says. It exacerbates existing inequities.