(KERO) — A new report shows COVID-19 deaths are disproportionately tied to low-income communities.
The data from "The Poor People's Campaign" shows that people living in poorer counties died at nearly five times the rate of people living in richer counties during the pandemic's deadliest waves.
Other research has found disparities in COVID-19 deaths across multiple identities: “Substantial inequalities in COVID-19 mortality are likely, with disproportionate burdens falling on those who are of racial/ethnic minorities, are poor, have less education, and are veterans” (Seligman, 2021), on people in counties that are less resourced (Karmakar et al., 2021), or where fewer people had high school diplomas (Khanijahani, 2020; Stokes et al. 2021; Feldman & Bassett, 2021). This research also found substantial connections between COVID-19 outcomes and race, which is expanded on below. Other research connected job loss to people who were poor, finding that poor people experienced disproportionately higher rates of job loss, and that Black women were greatly impacted by unemployment (Office of Human Services Policy, 2021; Jones, 2021).
The group looked at income and death data from more than 3,200 U.S. counties.
Researchers say more than half of the population in poorer counties have received their second vaccine shot, however, un-insured rates are twice as high.
