Visualizing the Geographic and Demographic Distribution of COVID-19

Abstract

Whereas African Americans are disproportionately among the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic’s sick and dead, less is known about whether some racial/ethnic groups are more likely to be affected in Canada. In this data visualization, the authors address two issues limiting understanding of the spatial and demographic distribution of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada: (1) COVID-19 infection and death counts are collected at a very high level of geographic aggregation, and (2) these counts are not tallied by sociodemographic group, including race/ethnicity. The authors use a bivariate choropleth map to illustrate the correlation between COVID-19 infections and the percentage of residents who are Black across census subdivisions. Canada is more similar to the United States than expected in this respect: areas with higher shares of Black Canadians also see more infections.