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High Road Policy

An ILR Buffalo Co-Lab Initiative

Communities of Color Being Hit Hardest by COVID-19 in Erie County (UPDATED)

13 April 2020 (last updated 9 September 2020 at 12:10pm)

The deeper we get into the COVID-19 pandemic, the clearer it becomes that the virus is not some “great equalizer” that threatens everyone while discriminating against no one. Rather, just like natural disasters and economic recessions before it, coronavirus has exposed the deep racial fault lines in American society. As Dr. Rashawn Ray – a sociologist at the University of Maryland and Brookings Institution Fellow – observes:

Blacks, relative to Whites, are more likely to live in neighborhoods with a lack of healthy food options, green spaces, recreational facilities, lighting, and safety. These subpar neighborhoods are rooted in the historical legacy of redlining. Additionally, Blacks are more likely to live in densely populated areas, further heightening their potential contact with other people. They represent about one-quarter of all public transit users. Blacks are also less likely to have equitable healthcare access—meaning hospitals are farther away and pharmacies are subpar, leading to more days waiting for urgent prescriptions. So, health problems in the Black community manifest not because Blacks do not take care of themselves but because healthcare resources are criminally inadequate in their neighborhoods.

Regarding work, Blacks are more likely to be part of the new COVID-19 “essential” workforce. Blacks represent nearly 30% of bus drivers and nearly 20% of all food service workers, janitors, cashiers, and stockers. During a highly-contagious pandemic like COVID-19, Black workers, and consequently their families, are over-exposed. In this regard, staying home during a quarantine is a privilege.

[For more information on the topics discussed in this passage, see our four-part Erasing Red Lines series and our recent analysis of workers in jobs at risk of mass layoffs due to COVID-19]

 
According to the data available in our new COVID-19 Mapper (for data through 8 September 2020), Buffalo and Erie County are in lock-step with these trends. ZIP codes where persons of color make up a majority of the population account for less than 20% of Erie County’s total population. But they contain more than 37% of the 10,000+ COVID-19 cases in the County to date. The likelihood of a disparity of that size occurring by chance alone is less than one in one trillion. In other words, COVID-19 cases are significantly more likely to arise in communities of color relative to majority-white ZIP codes in Erie County.

case disparity by zip code demographics

Consistent with Dr. Ray’s observations quoted above, the uneven distribution of novel coronavirus cases in Erie County intersects with longstanding inequities in the region. Consider that the eleven Erie County ZIP codes where persons of color are the majority of the population are located almost exclusively in the City of Buffalo. The current rate of COVID-19 cases in those ZIP codes is 20.9 per 1,000 persons (2.09 per 100 persons) – over 2.4 times the rate in majority white ZIP codes (8.7 per 1,000 persons or 0.87 per 100 persons). This disparity echoes and reinforces persistent disparities in poverty (35% in ZIP codes of color compared to 9.5% in majority white ZIP codes) and housing cost burden (38% in ZIP codes of color compared to 21% in majority white ZIP codes) by race and geography.

case and poverty disparity by zip code demographics
That economically stressed communities of color in the City of Buffalo are being disparately impacted by COVID-19 is especially concerning given that many of Erie County’s earliest cases were reported in suburban locations.

As this post has argued, the virus moving from more affluent white ZIP codes to communities of color (and back) is not evidence that we are all equal in this pandemic. UPDATE: While, for weeks, death tolls tilted toward a skewed distribution by race, the racial disparity in Erie County COVID-19 fatalities has dissipated. According the most recent release from the Erie County Executive (1 September 2020), of 681 County residents who lost their lives due to COVID-19, roughly 19% were persons who identified as a race other than white. For comparison, 22% of all Erie County residents identify the same way.

In sum, the data available so far are showing that, in Erie County:

  • Communities of color in the City of Buffalo are being hit hardest by COVID-19;
  • Higher COVID-19 rates in these communities of color are linked to higher poverty and housing cost burden, suggesting that
  • Communities with the fewest resources are the ones most likely to experience adverse health and economic impacts; and
  • Patients losing their lives to COVID-19 disproportionately identify as persons of color.

Recalling a running conclusion from our COVID-19 coverage, the current “crisis is magnifying the importance of equitable public policy and exposing the structural problems that persist in our health systems and economy.” Our recovery planning efforts demand firm foundations in values of equity and solidarity.