COVID kills Native Americans at much higher rates than other groups, study finds

COVID-19 killed Native Americans at a rate 2.8 times higher than that among white people last year before vaccines became widely available, according to a new study. The mortality rate for the disease among the group was also “considerably higher” than that of Black and Latino populations.

The study found Native Americans living in rural reservations faced greater risks of dying from COVID-19, likely because of poor living conditions and inadequate access to health care, researchers said in their paper published Nov. 17 in the journal Demographic Research.