Demographics change as covid deaths surge in NWA

The demographics of the covid-19 deaths in Northwest Arkansas have changed since this spring.

Early in the pandemic, Marshallese or Pacific Islanders and Hispanics were overrepresented in the covid-19 death toll there.

In fact, the Marshallese population accounted for more than 50% of the region's June deaths despite making up less than 3% of the region's population. Those numbers dropped to two deaths in October and none in November.

Northwest Arkansas, as with the nation, is seeing a surge of covid-19 deaths. Deaths there surpassed 100 in a single month for the first time in November, according to data from the Benton and Washington county coroners.

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The region saw its first deaths in the spring with three in late April and nine in May.

Records now show 398 Benton and Washington county residents died of the virus in the two-county area from April 21 through November, including 103 in November, coroners' records show.

The data does not yet include all Benton and Washington county residents who died outside the region, nor does it include people who lived in other counties or out of state and died in Northwest Arkansas.

Danyelle McNeill, spokeswoman at the Arkansas Department of Health, said 109 residents of the two counties have died in nursing homes. That's about 27% of the region's cumulative covid-19 deaths. Also, one nursing home staff member in Benton County died of the virus.

People 70 and older have accounted for 276, or about 69%, of the total deaths. About 3%, or 13, who died were in their 20s and 30s. The youngest Northwest Arkansas resident to die was 24.

The death toll includes 135 in Springdale, 78 in Rogers, 56 in Fayetteville and 26 in Bentonville.

Overall, 48 Northwest Arkansas residents who were Marshallese or Pacific Islander have died of the virus, accounting for about 12% of the region's deaths.

Health care professionals and community leaders attributed the virus's early-on disproportionate effects on the Marshallese to a number of factors, including higher rates of underlying health conditions such as diabetes, working in poultry plants, language barriers and large gatherings.

Also, census estimates show Hispanics make up about 17% of the region's population. Hispanic residents accounted for about 13% of the cumulative death toll with 56 deaths. Earlier in the pandemic, they accounted for 26% of July's deaths and 35% of August's deaths.

A summary of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's findings from mid-March to mid-June on covid-19 in the region's Hispanic and Marshallese communities noted a need for better understanding and awareness about prevention, testing, isolation and treatment.

"Communities that suffer disproportionately from covid-19, especially those affected by long-standing inequities in social determinants of health, need culturally and linguistically tailored public health education, community-based prevention activities, case management, care navigation and service linkage," according to the report.

Eldon Alik, consul general for the Springdale consulate of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, said a Marshallese covid-19 task force was created and has worked with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Northwest Regional Campus and the state Health Department to educate the Marshallese community about how to prevent the spread of the virus.

The task force regularly meets with Marshallese church leaders on how to educate their congregations about the virus, translates information from the CDC into the Marshallese language, communicates with the community via radio and social media as well as distributes free masks and cleaning supplies.

"People are following the guidelines," Alik said.

He also said contact tracers from the university helped identify where cases were coming from in the Marshallese community and helped isolate those cases and lessen the virus's spread.

The efforts have proven effective, but Alik is concerned about Christmas, for which family gatherings are important in the Marshallese community.

Non-Hispanic white people, who comprise about 72% of the region's population, have accounted for about 72% of the deaths in Benton and Washington counties with 288, according to the coroners.