Racial residential segregation and economic disparity jointly exacerbate the COVID-19 fatality in large American cities

• DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/xgbpy
• Publication Date: 2020-05-14T21:33:18Z
• Authors: Qinggang Yu; Cristina Salvador; Irene Melani; Martha Berg; Enrique Neblett; Shinobu Kitayama
• Keywords: Science (General); Science; Social and Behavioral Sciences; SARS‐CoV‐2; General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; History and Philosophy of Science; COVID‐19; 11. Sustainability; Ethnicity; Humans; 10. No inequality; Minority Groups; SARS-CoV-2; pandemic; General Neuroscience; 1. No poverty; COVID-19; United States; 3. Good health; Socioeconomic Factors; 8. Economic growth; structural inequality; racial segregation; policy; income inequality

The disproportionately high rates of both infections and deaths of underprivileged racial minorities in the U.S. (including Blacks and Hispanics) during the current COVID-19 pandemic show that structural inequality can be lethal. However, the nature of this structural inequality is poorly understood. Here, we hypothesized that two structural features of urban areas in the U.S. (racial residential segregation and income inequality) contribute to numerous health-compromising conditions, which, in turn, exacerbate COVID-19 fatalities. These two features may be particularly lethal when combined. To test this hypothesis, we examined the growth rate of both confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths in an early 30-day period of the outbreak in the counties located in each of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S. The growth curve for cases and deaths was steeper in counties located in metropolitan areas that residentially segregate Blacks and Hispanics. Moreover, this effect of racial residential segregation was augmented by income inequality within each county. The current evidence highlights the role of racial and economic disparity in producing the devastating human toll in the current pandemic. It also offers important policy implications for making virus-resilient cities.