Socio-Economic Disparities and COVID-19 in the USA

Paul, A., Englert, P., Varga, M. Socio-economic disparities and COVID-19 in the USA. J. of. Phys: Complexity. https://doi.org/10.1088/2632-072X/ac0fc7

12 Pages Posted: 11 Sep 2020 Last revised: 13 Jul 2021

See all articles by Ayan Paul

Ayan Paul

DESY, Hamburg; Institut für Physik, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin

Philipp Englert

Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron

Melinda Varga

Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron

Date Written: September 10, 2020

Abstract

COVID-19 is not a universal killer. We study the spread of COVID-19 at the county level for the United States up until the 15$^{th}$ of August, 2020. We show that the prevalence of the disease and the death rate are correlated with the local socio-economic conditions often going beyond local population density distributions, especially in rural areas. We correlate the COVID-19 prevalence and death rate with data from the US Census Bureau and point out how the spreading patterns of the disease show asymmetries in urban and rural areas separately and are preferentially affecting the counties where a large fraction of the population is non-white. Our findings can be used for more targeted policy building and deployment of resources for future occurrence of a pandemic due to SARS-CoV-2. Our methodology, based on interpretable machine learning and game theory, can be extended to study the spread of other diseases.

Keywords: COVID-19, Socioeconomic disparities, USA

Suggested Citation

Paul, Ayan and Englert, Philipp and Varga, Melinda, Socio-Economic Disparities and COVID-19 in the USA (September 10, 2020). Paul, A., Englert, P., Varga, M. Socio-economic disparities and COVID-19 in the USA. J. of. Phys: Complexity. https://doi.org/10.1088/2632-072X/ac0fc7, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3690517 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3690517

Ayan Paul (Contact Author)

DESY, Hamburg ( email )

Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.desy.de/~apaul/

Institut für Physik, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin ( email )

Unter den Linden 6
Berlin, AK Berlin 10099
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.desy.de/~apaul/

Philipp Englert

Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron ( email )

Germany

Melinda Varga

Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron ( email )

Germany

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