HOUSTON In Houston, Hispanics are leading the numbers of coronavirus cases where the patients race is known. There are 10.5K Hispanics in Harris County and Houston who have COVID-19 and 4.7k African Americans with the illness. As the number of COVID-19 patients continues to tick upwards, experts say its clear the virus is taking a toll on minorities. One reason for the disparity, Milam said, minorities have a higher incidence of other health conditions. African Americans have a higher prevalence of diabetes, higher prevalence of high blood pressure, chronic kidney disease all of those are risk factors for COVID-19, Milam elaborated.