By now, most of us are aware of the disproportionate impact COVID-19 has on communities of color, particularly those on the south and west sides of Chicago. But what’s less publicly available—or even tracked at all—is how coronavirus is affecting people based on their gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation. Advocates say not having adequate data hides the dangerous impact of COVID-19 on the most vulnerable, including women, those who identify as nonbinary, trans, or gender nonconforming, and others in the LGBTQ+ community.
We had to request this demographic information by gender, and it’s not readily available to the public. When we asked how to use CDPH’s COVID-19 data portal to find numbers regarding Black women (which combines two demographics), Nikhil Prachand, CDPH’s director of epidemiology, said, “That’s a limitation of our data. COVID-19 has had an unprecedented effect on our data systems in terms of the amount of data that’s being poured in. The data we’re able to produce and report on a regular basis involve demographics like age and race.” He added that the CDPH can cross-reference data to determine figures for Black women, for example, but added that doing so regularly would be a Herculean task, although the department “honors special requests.”
Prachand echoed what Arwady said, initially e-mailing that “other than HIV, disease surveillance systems do not typically collect data on sexual orientation or gender identity.” In a followup conversation, he added, “We don’t like to speculate on data we don’t have. Disease surveillance systems [involve] a national system called INET that’s set up by the CDC [Centers for Disease Control]. So those numbers that populate that system come from laboratories, testing facilities, doctors—anyone who’s performing tests or making diagnoses.
“We have individuals who are HIV-impacted and -affected. We’re talking about individuals who are used to having community and support systems—mentally and emotionally. When there are stay-at-home orders, that could be a trigger because you’re dealing with isolation all over again. COVID-19 is keeping them away from their support systems, on so many levels.
