(Radio Iowa) — New data indicates racial disparities in COVID-19 cases that have been reported in other parts of the country are also occurring in Iowa. Nearly 16-and-a-half percent of Iowa’s COVID-19 cases are among Hispanics, who make up about six percent of the state’s population. Blacks account for another four percent of Iowa’s population, but nearly nine percent of all the COVID cases here.

Dr. Caitlin Pedati, the state medical director, says this data is on a new state website, along with information about when Iowans with COVID-19 first started showing symptoms of the illness. “It also helps us understand the magnitude of the number of people affected and the progression of an outbreak,” Pedati says.

Test results released by state officials yesterday confirmed nearly 19-hundred Iowans have COVID-19.