Counties with High COVID-19 Incidence and Relatively Large Racial and Ethnic Minority Populations — United States, April 1–December 22, 2020

Details

• Personal Author:
  Hershow, Rebecca B. ; Wu, Karen ; Lewis, Nathaniel M. ; Milne, Alison T. ; Currie, Dustin ; Smith, Amanda R. ; Lloyd, Spencer ; Orleans, Brian ; Young, Erin L. ; Freeman, Brandi ; Schwartz, Noah ; Bryant, Bobbi ; Espinosa, Bobbi ; Nakazawa, Yoshinori ; Garza, Elizabeth ; Almendares, Olivia ; Abara, Winston E. ; Ehlman, Daniel C. ; Waters, Keith ; Hill, Mary ; Risk, Ilene ; Oakeson, Kelly ; Tate, Jacqueline E. ; Kirking, Hannah L. ; Dunn, Angela ; Vallabhaneni, Snigdha ; Hersh, Adam L. ; Chu, Victoria T.
• Corporate Authors:
  CDC COVID-19 Response Team. ; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.)Epidemic Intelligence Service. ; Utah. Department of Health. ; Granite School District (Salt Lake City, Utah) ; University of Utah Health Sciences Center. Health and Economic Recovery Outreach (HERO) Project. ; Utah. Public Health Laboratories. ; General Dynamics Information Technology. ; Salt Lake County (Utah). Health Department.
• Description:
  What is already known about this topic? Long-standing systemic health and social inequities have placed many racial and ethnic minority groups at increased risk for COVID-19.
  
  What is added by this report? During April 1–14, 11.4% of counties reported high COVID-19 incidence, including 28.7% and 27.9% of counties with large Asian and Black populations, respectively. During August 5–18, this percentage was 64.7%, including 92.4% and 74.5% of counties with large Black and Hispanic populations, respectively. By December 9–22, 99.1% of counties reported high incidence.
  
  What are the implications for public health practice? As the COVID-19 pandemic evolves, public health efforts can be tailored to the needs of communities of color that may be experiencing high COVID-19 impact and integrated with longer-term plans to improve health equity.
  
  Long-standing systemic social, economic, and environmental inequities in the United States have put many communities of color (racial and ethnic minority groups) at increased risk for exposure to and infection with SARS-CoV-2, the Virus that causes COVID-19, as well as more severe COVID-19–related outcomes (1–3). Because race and ethnicity are missing for a proportion of reported COVID-19 cases, counties with substantial missing information often are excluded from analyses of disparities (4). Thus, as a complement to these case-based analyses, population-based studies can help direct public health interventions. Using data from the 50 states and the District of Columbia (DC), CDC identified counties where five racial and ethnic minority groups (Hispanic or Latino [Hispanic], non-Hispanic Black or African American [Black], non-Hispanic Asian [Asian], non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native [AI/AN], and non-Hispanic Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander [NH/PI]) might have experienced high COVID-19 impact during April 1–December 22, 2020. These counties had high 2-week COVID-19 incidences (>100 new cases per 100,000 persons in the total population) and percentages of persons in five racial and ethnic groups that were larger than the national percentages (denoted as “large”). During April 1–14, a total of 359 (11.4%) of 3,142 U.S. counties reported high COVID-19 incidence, including 28.7% of counties with large percentages of Asian persons and 27.9% of counties with large percentages of Black persons. During August 5–18, high COVID-19 incidence was reported by 2,034 (64.7%) counties, including 92.4% of counties with large percentages of Black persons and 74.5% of counties with large percentages of Hispanic persons. During December 9–22, high COVID-19 incidence was reported by 3,114 (99.1%) counties, including >95% of those with large percentages of persons in each of the five racial and ethnic minority groups. The findings of this population-based Analysis complement those of case-based analyses. In jurisdictions with substantial missing race and ethnicity information, this method could be applied to smaller geographic areas, to identify communities of color that might be experiencing high potential COVID-19 impact. As areas with high rates of new infection change over time, public health efforts can be tailored to the needs of communities of color as the pandemic evolves and integrated with longer-term plans to improve health equity.
  
  Suggested citation for this article: Lee FC, Adams L, Graves SJ, et al. Counties with High COVID-19 Incidence and Relatively Large Racial and Ethnic Minority Populations — United States, April 1–December 22, 2020. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. ePub: 24 March 2021.
  
  mm7013e1.htm
  
  mm7013e1-H.pdf
  
  
• Subjects:
  BetacoronaVirus CoronaVirus Infections/Ethnology COVID-19/Ethnology Ethnicity Healthcare Disparities Health Policy Health Status Disparities Humans Incidence Pandemics Pneumonia, Viral/Ethnology Racial Groups Risk Factors SARS-CoV-2

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• Source:
  MMWR: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 2021; v. 70 Early Release
• Series:
  Weekly Report: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• ISSN:
  0149-2195 (print) ; 1545-861X (digital)
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  United States
• Pages in Document:
  7 pdf pages
• Volume:
  70
• Collection(s):
  Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:7ead807951a022d7bf035b81d0ec16183e579d69d96102bc46d35ab23fb91e61a7063f2413c43e34cd48794c78e0a75fb0c00f1597f178d005567119aabcbf1e
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/104418/cdc_104418_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.85 MB ]