Elderly white Sonoma County residents more likely to die from COVID-19 than Latinos

Across the country, Latinos are four times more likely than whites to be hospitalized after contracting the coronavirus and nearly three times more likely to die from related complications.

But in Sonoma County, the death grip of the highly contagious virus is not so lopsided in the Latino community.

Latinos currently account for almost 70% of the 18,000 local COVID-19 cases, though they are only 27% of the county population of about 500,000 people. But when it comes to fatalities, Latinos make up nearly 25% of the pandemic deaths, essentially in line with their share of the local population.

The biggest death toll, according to county public health data, has been among frail seniors in elder care residences, including skilled nursing centers, board and care homes and assisted living facilities.

Of the county’s 182 deaths as of Saturday, at least 124 or about 70% of them were elderly individuals, predominantly non-Latinos, living in senior care homes. Seniors residing there are among the most medically vulnerable local residents.

To be sure, members of the local Latino community are dying of COVID-19 — 43 Latinos have lost their lives to the virus as of Christmas Eve. They’re just not dying at the same rate they’re contracting the virus, not even close.

The main reasons: County public health officials say youth and good health among the large majority of Latinos who have been infected by the pandemic disease. No county resident under 45 who has tested positive has died from the coronavirus.

“The Latinx community is disproportionately impacted by the number of COVID-19 cases, but these cases tend to be happening among residents who are younger,” said Kathryn Pack, health program manager for the county's epidemiology team. “They tend to be younger, less likely to have underlying conditions, and also less likely to be hospitalized.”

According to the latest breakdown of Sonoma County virus demographics, only 4% of Latinos who contract the virus are 65 and older, but the share of that age group is 22% for the rest of the population, including whites. Also, 75% of Latino residents who have contracted the virus had no underlying conditions, compared to 68% of non-Latino residents.

Younger, healthy Latinos infected

Dr. Deborah Donlon, medical director of Santa Rosa Community Health’s Lombardi campus in southwest Santa Rosa, said Latino patients who are 75 and older are among the clinic’s smallest age group. She said the clinic’s Latino patients are relatively young.

“That definitely explains part of what we’re seeing in terms of the survival rates,” Donlon said. “We definitely know that the elderly, especially elderly with underlying health conditions and obesity are more likely to require mechanical ventilation and die from COVID.”

Pack said only 3% of Latinos who contract the virus end up being hospitalized, compared to 7% of non-Latino whites. She said that COVID-19 cases among Latinos are largely occurring among essential workers and their families. This workforce, she said, tends to be younger individuals less likely to have health problems.

These essential workers who labor in retail and other services between age 18 and 49 and their associated household viral transmission have been driving the rampant infections among Latinos.

“There has been a great toll on the Latinx community — economically and otherwise — from this pandemic, so although there have not been disproportionate deaths, I would like to be cautious about implying that the detrimental impacts have been less,” Pack said.

Unusual discrepancy between infections, deaths

Health officials said it’s worth noting that COVID-19 death rates for local African Americans and American Indian/Alaska Native residents are more in line with national statistics that show these groups are also four times more likely than whites to be hospitalized and almost three times more likely to die as a result of the virus.

Locally, African Americans make up 2.8% of virus-related deaths but are only 1.6% of the county population, and American Indian/Alaska Natives comprise 2.8% of deaths but are less than 1% of the local population.

Dr. John Swartzberg, clinical professor emeritus of infectious diseases at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, said he’s not previously seen such a significant discrepancy between coronavirus infection and death rates in the Latino population that’s apparent in Sonoma County.

Swartzberg agreed younger local Latinos getting infected may be among the key reasons they are not dying of COVID-19 at rates similar to counterparts across the country. He said it’s also possible local Latinos are accessing medical care earlier than in other parts of the U.S., though he has no data to support the assertion.

Bilingual doctors making difference

However, Donlon, the medical director of the Lombardi clinic in Santa Rosa, said that may in fact be a critical factor why local Latinos are not disproportionately dying of the virus. There’s a “robust” network of federally qualified health centers in all corners of the county dedicated to providing primary medical care to low-income residents, including Latinos, she said.

In southwest Santa Rosa, for instance, the Lombardi health campus treats the largest share of Santa Rosa Community Health’s Latino patients. And the county’s biggest hot spot of coronavirus cases has been in southwest Santa Rosa.

“I can tell you that our nurses and other staff have been working overtime, doing triage of patients who call in requesting advice for their COVID symptoms,” Donlon said. “They are really the unsung heroes of getting patients to the hospital, at a time when they’re still treatable.”

Many of Lombardi’s patients are treated at Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital, which sponsors the Santa Rosa Family Medicine residency program in which physicians in training are bilingual. Donlon said hospitalized critically ill patients do better when the medical team caring for them can communicate in their own language.

Donlon said she’s grateful the coronavirus is not having an outsized effect on local Latinos in terms of fatalities. But Latinos are dying in the pandemic, she said, adding that one of the campus’ medical assistants, a Latina, recently lost her mother to the virus.

Latino farmworker among first to die

One of the Latinos who died this year from complications of COVID-19 was Jose Hermosillo, 66, a retired poultry farmworker and longtime Santa Rosa resident. Hermosillo, a beloved friend, father and grandfather, lost his life May 3 after nearly a week of almost complete isolation at Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa Medical Center.

Hermosillo had developed pneumonia and ultimately died from acute respiratory distress, according to the Sonoma County coroner’s office. At the time of his death, he was only the third county resident to die after contracting the virus.

Since the pandemic started in mid-March, Hermosillo was among about 50 local residents between age 55 and 74 who died from COVID-19. By far, most deaths, at least 120, have been among residents 75 or older.

Dr. Sundari Mase, the county’s health officer, said the fact that local Latinos are no more likely to die from COVID-19 than other Sonoma County residents should not lure them into a false sense of security.

The effects of getting infected, the possibility of severe illness and the likelihood of spreading the virus to more vulnerable individuals are still significant, she said.

“I don't think anybody should be less worried, because you can still get COVID and you can still transmit it to people who are quite vulnerable,” Mase said.

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 707-521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @pressreno.