Frontiers in Public Health (Jan 2021)

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

  • Erin N. Biggs,
  • Patrick M. Maloney,
  • Ariane L. Rung,
  • Edward S. Peters,
  • William T. Robinson,
  • William T. Robinson

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2020.617976
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8

Abstract

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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.

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