Distancing the socially distanced: Racial/ethnic composition’s association with physical distancing in response to COVID-19 in the U.S

Joseph Gibbons

PLOS ONE, 2021, vol. 16, issue 5, 1-21

Abstract: Social distancing prescribed by policy makers in response to COVID-19 raises important questions as to how effectively people of color can distance. Due to inequalities from residential segregation, Hispanic and Black populations have challenges in meeting health expectations. However, segregated neighborhoods also support the formation of social bonds that relate to healthy behaviors. We evaluate the question of non-White distancing using social mobility data from Google on three sites: workplaces, grocery stores, and recreational locations. Employing hierarchical linear modeling and geographically weighted regression, we find the relation of race/ethnicity to COVID-19 distancing is varied across the United States. The HLM models show that compared to Black populations, Hispanic populations overall more effectively distance from recreation sites and grocery stores: each point increase in percent Hispanic was related to residents being 0.092 percent less likely (p

Date: 2021
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0251960

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0251960

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