An In-Depth Analysis Investigating the Ethnical Disparities of COVID-19 Cases and Death Rates in Georgia and Mississippi based on Socioeconomic Factors

This research aims to quantify racial disparities associated with COVID-19 cases and deaths in Georgia and Mississippi. It investigates ethnic disparities at the county level, based on socioeconomic factors. The factors used include the county population, median income, percentage of the county population per ethnic group, and county presidential election party major. In addition, COVID-19 cases and death rates by ethnicity were provided. The combined data was used for K-means clustering analysis and Analysis of Variances, to investigate the differences due to ethnicity per county and the differences due to aggregated cases and death rates per county. The results showed a significant difference in the ethnic group's COVID-19 cases and deaths as well as the socioeconomic factors that might have affected these rates. Specifically, counties with the Republican party as the presidential political party majority had significantly more cases and deaths for American Indian and Alaskan Native (AIAN), Black, and White ethnic groups in Mississippi and Georgia. There was no significant statistical difference between the Asian and Latinx groups. This research concluded that there is a significant difference in the COVID-19 deaths and cases based on the ethnic groups due to socioeconomic factors and the political party majority of the counties. In addition, counties with significant cases and death rates consist of large proportions of people of color than their population representation percentage based on the 2020 Census. © 2022 IISE Annual Conference and Expo 2022. All rights reserved.

An analysis of the impact of policies and political affiliation on racial disparities in COVID-19 infections and deaths in the USA.

This research aimed to quantify the racial disparities of COVID-19 for primarily positive tests and deaths across the US and territories individually and collectively. The first research hypothesis investigated whether positive cases and death rates were higher for people of color (POC) than the White ethnic group. The second hypothesis examined whether there is a significant difference in confirmed positive cases and death rates between ethnic groups across the US and territories. The third hypothesis investigated if political party control and governmental policies affected the number of cases and death proportion rates across ethnic groups. The research findings suggest that POC positive cases and death rates were higher in some states. Black ethnic groups were dying at a high rate in the southeastern states, the District of Columbia, and in Maryland. Specifically, in the District of Columbia, the death rate is five times higher than the White ethnic group. For Latinx ethnic groups, the high cases and death rates have mostly occurred in western states, including Texas. The Latinx ethnic group accounted for half the total deaths in Texas and California. The Latinx ethnic group death rate is higher than the White ethnic group in four states: Texas, California, New Mexico, and the District of Columbia. The research findings also show that the rate of deaths and cases per ethnic group for policies and political factors were significant except for the mask mandate policy. Based on the analyzed data, mask mandates were not a factor in the cases or death rates of any ethnic group. Each state's policies for bars, curfews, public schools, and travel-along with legislative party control-had the most influences across ethnic groups. The research results for the death rates and number of cases due to these implemented policies varied between ethnic groups.