Residential Segregation and COVID-19: A

Abstract

In this issue of Medical Care, Glance and colleagues1 explore associations between proportions of Black and Hispanic residents by county and COVID-19 mortality from March 2020 to November 2020. They examined 3126 counties in the United States and found that between March and October those counties with > 40% Black residents had consistently significantly higher mortality from COVID-19 than counties that had < 2% Black residents. This pattern was similar among counties with >40% Hispanic residents compared with counties with < 2% Hispanic residents from July through October. They also found that beginning in August, counties with >15% uninsured persons under 65 years of age had increased mortality compared with counties with < 5% uninsured and this continued through November. They conclude that states that haven’t expanded Medicaid should do so in order to ensure equity.