The Relationship Between Social Vulnerability and COVID-19 Incidence Among Louisiana Census Tracts

Front Public Health. 2021 Jan 20:8:617976. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2020.617976. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

Objective: To examine the association between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)'s Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) and COVID-19 incidence among Louisiana census tracts. Methods: An ecological study comparing the CDC SVI and census tract-level COVID-19 case counts was conducted. Choropleth maps were used to identify census tracts with high levels of both social vulnerability and COVID-19 incidence. Negative binomial regression with random intercepts was used to compare the relationship between overall CDC SVI percentile and its four sub-themes and COVID-19 incidence, adjusting for population density. Results: In a crude stratified analysis, all four CDC SVI sub-themes were significantly associated with COVID-19 incidence. Census tracts with higher levels of social vulnerability were associated with higher COVID-19 incidence after adjusting for population density (adjusted RR: 1.52, 95% CI: 1.41-1.65). Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that increased social vulnerability is linked with COVID-19 incidence. Additional resources should be allocated to areas of increased social disadvantage to reduce the incidence of COVID-19 in vulnerable populations.

Keywords: CDC SVI; COVID-19; Louisiana; SARS- CoV2; racial disparities; social vulnerability.

MeSH terms

  • COVID-19 / epidemiology*
  • Censuses*
  • Humans
  • Incidence
  • Louisiana / epidemiology
  • Population Surveillance
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Socioeconomic Factors
  • Vulnerable Populations / statistics & numerical data*