Scientists from the University of Chicago used county-level data and found that different demographic groups are vulnerable to COVID-19 in different ways—often depending on their geographic location.
What they discovered was that not all of a particular race or ethnic population in the US is affected by the same factors, or face the same COVID-19 outcomes.
By identifying associations between COVID mortality and social determinants of health, they uncovered the specific ways that place has shaped how people experience the pandemic.
The research is published in JAMA Network Open and was conducted by Susan Paykin et al.
In the study, the team did a cross-sectional study of 3,142 counties in 50 US states and the District of Columbia.
The team looked at different groups and their various social factors and whether they differed or were similar across urban, rural, and suburban counties.
They found that Black or African American groups with high mortality rates—particularly in the Southeast—were more vulnerable due to low socioeconomic status, high-income inequality, limited access to quality health care, and severe housing problems.
White populations who experienced high mortality rates—most often in the rural Midwest—are located mostly in counties with a high percentage of older populations, and who have limited access to quality health care.
The researchers found that different minority groups were experiencing disproportionately high mortality rates during the pandemic.
They are hoping their paper encourages information to be collected at a more granular level and shared freely—not only in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic but also to have in place for future pandemics or other natural disasters.
The team says these outcomes are not driven by the people themselves, but rather the conditions that define the places in which they live.
And that has really important implications for policy and structural changes and how we formulate and begin to prepare for the future and build a culture of health equity in general, for different populations across different communities in the US.
The team also hopes to take a closer look at the structural and social factors that describe very low COVID-19 mortality rates, to paint a better picture of what makes a community resilient—at least in the context of COVID impacts.
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