Garcia, Lerner Center Research on COVID and the Latino Mortality Advantage Cited in NBC News Story

May 16, 2022

NBC

Marc A. Garcia

Sociology Department

Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health

COVID-19

LatinX

Longevity

United States

NBC

Marc A. Garcia

Latinos in the U.S. live approximately three years longer than non-Latino whites in what many refer to as the Latino mortality advantage. That changed with the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a Lerner Center research brief, co-authored by Assistant Professor of Sociology Marc Garcia, the coronavirus reshaped the nation's mortality patterns and the long-standing Latino mortality advantage, particularly among older Latinos.

"COVID-19 has diminished the long-standing Latino advantage in all-cause mortality relative to whites due to their disproportionate rate of COVID-19 deaths, particularly during the first two years of the pandemic," wrote Garcia and co-author Rogelio Sáenz. They found that COVID-19 mortality disparities are "likely driven by structural factors that are modifiable by governmental intervention."

Read more in the NBC News article, "Covid-19 narrows long-standing Latino mortality advantage, study finds."