The Public Health Agency of Canada says it is still looking into the possibility of collecting race-based data on COVID-19, despite months of calls from advocates for a clearer picture of who is contracting the disease and how it affects them.
Public health officials in the United States discovered weeks ago the deadly virus was disproportionately affecting black communities. [ Sign up for our Health IQ newsletter for the latest coronavirus updates ] Advocates in Canada say the same situation may be playing out here on a smaller scale, but the government isn’t collecting the data to understand who is most at risk.
Currently Canada gathers only basic demographic data about people who test positive for the disease, including age and gender.