The Impact of COVID-19 on African American Communities in the United States

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this ecological study was to understand the impact of the density of African American (AA) communities on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) prevalence and death rate within the three most populous counties in each U.S. state and territory ( n =152). Methods: An ecological design was employed for the study. The top three most populous counties of each U.S. state and territory were included in analyses for a final sample size of n =152 counties. Confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths that were accumulated between January 22, 2020 and April 12, 2020 in each of the three most populous counties in each U.S. state and territory were included. Linear regression was used to determine the association between AA density and COVID-19 prevalence (defined as the percentage of cases for the county population), and death rate (defined as number of deaths per 100,000 population). The models were adjusted for median age and poverty. Results: There was a direct association between AA density and COVID-19 prevalence; COVID-19 prevalence increased 5% for every 1% increase in county AA density ( p <0.01). There was also an association between county AA density and COVID-19 deaths; the death rate increased 2 per 100,000 for every percentage increase in county AA density ( p =0.02). Conclusion: These findings indicate that communities with a high AA density have been disproportionately burdened with COVID-19. To help develop effective interventions and programs that address this disparity, further study is needed to understand social determinants of health driving inequities for this community.

Coronavirus Trauma and African Americans’ Mental Health: Seizing Opportunities for Transformational Change

“…Thirty-nine percent of jobs held by African Americans are in occupations where workers are at risk. From having more sick and vulnerable co-workers as well as more family, friends and neighbors [ 42 , 43 ] African Americans are twice as likely as whites to know someone who has been hospitalized or has died because of COVID- [ 39 ], and they are about 1.4 times more likely to be very concerned about unknowingly spreading COVID to others [ 39 ].…”

“…African Americans’ Threatened Social Cohesion and Mutual Support . Counties with heavier African American representation have considerably more COVID cases and higher COVID death rates [ 37 , 42 , 43 ] pointing to significant social and community impact from COVID. Manifestations include burdened and disrupted social bonds and prosocial community norms from COVID’s spread, reducing family members’ and friends’ capacity for increasingly needed mutual support.…”

Behavioral coping phenotypes and psychosocial outcomes in a national U.S. sample of pregnant and postpartum women during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…We also examined whether pro le membership differed by race/ethnicity, particularly given that Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) have been disproportionally impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic (Cyrus et al, 2020;Millett et al, 2020). In pregnant women, we observed that Black women were 35% less likely to be members of the passive-coping phenotype, and 70% less likely to be members of the active-coping phenotype.…”

COVID-19 Trends in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area from a Mobile Testing Program: Last Quarter of 2020

“…High incidence and severity of COVID-19 have been reported disproportionately in ethnic/racial minorities. In an ecological study in the three most populous counties in each US state and territory, it was found that for every 1% of African-American density there was a 5% increase in COVID-19 prevalence (p < 0.01) and an increase of 2 deaths due to COVID-19 per 100,000 population (p = 0.02) [ 21 ]. Similarly, Rodriguex-Diaz et al reported that in highly dense Latino communities (≥ 17.8% of the population) in the Northeast and Midwest regions, the rate of COVID-19 cases was higher (adjusted relative risk: 1.42, 95% CI 1.11–1.84 and 1.70, 95% CI 1.57–1.85, respectively) than less densely Latino communities (< 17.8% of the population) [ 22 ].…”