Census tract socioeconomic indicators and COVID-19-associated hospitalization rates—COVID-NET surveillance areas in 14 states, March 1–April 30, 2020

Jonathan M Wortham, Seth A Meador, James L Hadler, Kimberly Yousey-Hindes, Isaac See, Michael Whitaker, Alissa O’Halloran, Jennifer Milucky, Shua J Chai, Arthur Reingold, Nisha B Alden, Breanna Kawasaki, Evan J Anderson, Kyle P Openo, Andrew Weigel, Maya L Monroe, Patricia A Ryan, Sue Kim, Libby Reeg, Ruth Lynfield, Melissa McMahon, Daniel M Sosin, Nancy Eisenberg, Adam Rowe, Grant Barney, Nancy M Bennett, Sophrena Bushey, Laurie M Billing, Jess Shiltz, Melissa Sutton, Nicole West, H Keipp Talbot, William Schaffner, Keegan McCaffrey, Melanie Spencer, Anita K Kambhampati, Onika Anglin, Alexandra M Piasecki, Rachel Holstein, Aron J Hall, Alicia M Fry, Shikha Garg and Lindsay Kim

PLOS ONE, 2021, vol. 16, issue 9, 1-15

Abstract: Objectives: Some studies suggested more COVID-19-associated hospitalizations among racial and ethnic minorities. To inform public health practice, the COVID-19-associated Hospitalization Surveillance Network (COVID-NET) quantified associations between race/ethnicity, census tract socioeconomic indicators, and COVID-19-associated hospitalization rates. Methods: Using data from COVID-NET population-based surveillance reported during March 1–April 30, 2020 along with socioeconomic and denominator data from the US Census Bureau, we calculated COVID-19-associated hospitalization rates by racial/ethnic and census tract-level socioeconomic strata. Results: Among 16,000 COVID-19-associated hospitalizations, 34.8% occurred among non-Hispanic White (White) persons, 36.3% among non-Hispanic Black (Black) persons, and 18.2% among Hispanic or Latino (Hispanic) persons. Age-adjusted COVID-19-associated hospitalization rate were 151.6 (95% Confidence Interval (CI): 147.1–156.1) in census tracts with >15.2%–83.2% of persons living below the federal poverty level (high-poverty census tracts) and 75.5 (95% CI: 72.9–78.1) in census tracts with 0%–4.9% of persons living below the federal poverty level (low-poverty census tracts). Among White, Black, and Hispanic persons living in high-poverty census tracts, age-adjusted hospitalization rates were 120.3 (95% CI: 112.3–128.2), 252.2 (95% CI: 241.4–263.0), and 341.1 (95% CI: 317.3–365.0), respectively, compared with 58.2 (95% CI: 55.4–61.1), 304.0 (95%: 282.4–325.6), and 540.3 (95% CI: 477.0–603.6), respectively, in low-poverty census tracts. Conclusions: Overall, COVID-19-associated hospitalization rates were highest in high-poverty census tracts, but rates among Black and Hispanic persons were high regardless of poverty level. Public health practitioners must ensure mitigation measures and vaccination campaigns address needs of racial/ethnic minority groups and people living in high-poverty census tracts.

Date: 2021
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0257622

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0257622

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