In a new study, researchers found that markers of the pandemic’s impact—testing rates, positivity ratio (cases among total tests), case rates by overall population and deaths—are clustered in neighborhoods.
They found low-income and predominantly minority communities experiencing worse outcomes than wealthier and predominantly white neighborhoods.
The research was conducted by a team at Drexel University.
In the study, the team analyzed neighborhood-level data from March through September 2020 from three large U.S. cities—Chicago, New York and Philadelphia.
They looked at data on tests, cases and deaths per zip code from the cities’ health departments and drill down to disparities among communities.
The team compared these numbers to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2018 Social Vulnerability Index.
They found testing, positive case rate, total confirmed cases and deaths were all correlated by zip code, with large clusters of positive cases and deaths in lower-income, predominantly minority neighborhoods (that are defined as more vulnerable.
For example, the West and South sides of Chicago reported clusters of high positive case rates, confirmed cases and COVID deaths—in contrast with Central and North sides of Chicago that reported low positive case rates, fewer confirmed cases and COVID deaths.
Although the team found much higher rates of COVID deaths in neighborhoods with higher social vulnerability, such a link was not seen in Philadelphia.
The team says people need more testing, vaccination, but also better working conditions with expanded access to personal protective equipment paid sick leave and more investment in low-income communities.
They note that these inequities are likely much larger than reported in the study as a result of a lack of systematic widespread testing in many cities across the United States.
The study is published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. One author of the study is Usama Bilal, Ph.D., MD.
Copyright © 2021 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
