Portland’s Communities of Color Are Dying at Especially High Rates During the Pandemic. Help Us Investigate Why.

We want to hear from Portlanders who have been affected by the increase in deaths—family members, friends and community members.

A downtown street during the July 2022 heat wave. (Blake Benard)
By Rachel Monahan, Betsy Ladyzhets, and Derek Kravitz

During the pandemic, Portlanders have been hit especially hard, dying in greater numbers from the COVID-19 virus along with homicides, drug overdoses, suicides and summertime heat waves.

No single community has been affected more in Portland than communities of color, mortality data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows. This trend hasn’t gone unnoticed: In the spring of 2021, the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners declared racism a public health threat, and uneven vaccination rates among different racial groups has worsened the disparities.

But the true extent of the increase has yet to be fully explored.

We want to hear from Portlanders who have been affected by the increase in deaths—family members, friends and community members. If you’re interested in talking to us, fill out the form here.

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