CLEVELAND, Ohio- Black residents of Cuyahoga County, Ohio's second largest county of which includes Cleveland and several of its eastern suburbs, are testing positive for the coronavirus in a disproportionate fashion in comparison to their White counterparts, news that follows statistics in New York City that show that Blacks are dying at at twice the rate of Whites there, a trend developing around the country, data show.

Thirty-nine percent of the 1,021 lab-confirmed coronavirus cases in Cuyahoga County are Black, the Board of Health reported Friday.

Cuyahoga County has a population of some 1.2 million people and is roughly 29% Black.

It currently has some 1152 cases and 23 confirmed deaths, a disproportionate number of them Black, sources say.

The rate of cases is at 30 percent as to Blacks in the county for those who identified themselves as Black, a racial disparity based on those accessed that puts the Black community on notice.

In contrast, data also show that counties in states such as Illinois, Louisiana,  Michigan, Wisconsin and Florida Blacks have three times the rate of infections and four times the rate of deaths, poor Black communities suffering even more, partly due to poverty itself, little or no healthcare, and apathy, racism, transportation barriers, ignorance, and demographics.

New York City, however, has the worst coronavirus stats of all from a national standpoint.

Whites in in the big city are dying at roughly 10 per 100,000, city officials and its mayor have said, and Asians nearly nine per 100,000.

On the other hand, Black deaths relative to the crippling flu-type virus that has no cure are doubling those of Whites at 20 per 100,000 and Latinos in New York City are topping the chart at an even higher death rate of 33 per 100,000.

The state of New York leads the U.S. with over 195,031 cases and 10,056 deaths , followed by New Jersey with 65,584 cases and with 2,443 deaths, and then by Michigan, California, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Louisiana, respectively, Florida, Illinois, and Texas rounding out the top 10 states with the most coronavirus cases, and deaths.

The virus has spread to all 50 states and Washington, D.C. and the nation has nearly 577,729 reported cases and some 23,115 people dead,  worldwide figures showing that there are 1.9 million cases globally and roughly 118,546 deaths.

It is grim news for a nation on the brink of a recession as fear gropes the country and unemployment claims rise to an all-time high at nearly 22 million.

Public health officials and governors in 43 states and Washington, D.C. have put out stay-at-home orders requiring that people remain at home except for essential such as food, healthcare, an essential job, and taking care of a loved one, Midwestern and southern states , namely Arkansas, South Dakota, North Dakota, Utah, Wyoming, Iowa and Nebraska, refusing to bow to pressure and issue such orders.

Some governors are taking heat from state legislatures like Ohio Gov Mike DeWine, with some state legislators, even in his own Republican party, calling on him to call off the state's stay-at-home order.

President Donald Trump has declined to issue a national stay-at-home order saying states need the autonomy to decide on their own.