Racial disparities, environmental exposures, and SARS-CoV-2 infection rates: A racial map study in the USA

Abstract

AbstractSince the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers mainly examined how socio-economic, demographic, and environmental factors are related to disparities in SARS-CoV-2 infection rates. However, we don’t know the extent to which racial disparities in environmental exposure are related to racial disparities in SARS-CoV-2 infection rates. To address this critical issue, we gathered black vs. white infection records from 1416 counties in the contiguous United States. For these counties, we used 30m-spatial resolution land cover data and racial mappings to quantify the racial disparity between black and white people’s two types of environmental exposure, including exposures to various types of landscape settings and urban development intensities. We found that racial disparities in SARS-CoV-2 infection rates and racial disparities in exposure to various types of landscapes and urban development intensities were significant and showed similar patterns. Specifically, less racial disparity in exposure to forests outside park, pasture/hay, and urban areas with low and medium development intensities were significantly associated with lower racial disparities in SARS-CoV-2 infection rates. Distance was also critical. The positive association between racial disparities in environmental exposures and racial disparity in SARS-CoV-2 infection rates was strongest within a comfortable walking distance (approximately 400m).HighlightsRacial dot map and landcover map were used for population-weighted analysis.Racial disparity in environmental exposures and SARS-CoV-2 infection were linked.Forests outside park are the most beneficial landscape settings.Urban areas with low development intensity are the most beneficial urban areas.Landscape and urban exposures within the 400m buffer distances are most beneficial.