COVID-19 Deaths

ABSTRACT

This study used the CDC dataset (January 1, 2020–April, 17, 2021) on Provisional COVID-19 Deaths by County, and Race and Hispanic Origin, with the available data from 760 counties within 50 States and DC. Data collection on COVID-19 deaths complied with the 2013 National Center for Health Statistics Urban-Rural Classification Scheme for Counties. The Kruskal-Wallis Test compared the median COVID-19 deaths of Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics among the six types of urban-rural counties (large central metro, large fringe metro, medium metro, small metro, micropolitan, and noncore) nationwide, in order to determine whether their population means were significantly different in COVID-19 deaths. This statistical analysis also was administered for 14 States with the largest Black and Hispanic populations (Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Texas, Virginia) and for each of the top five (5) States of residence for the US Black population (Texas, Florida, Georgia, New York, and California). Our findings suggested that that there were significant differences in median COVID-19 deaths of Blacks and Hispanics among the six types of urban and rural counties nationwide, as well as in the 14 States and 5 States, and that the pairwise post hoc Dunn test (p < 0.05, adjusted using the Bonferroni correction) recognized several significant pairs of urban-rural counties (p < 0.05), which were fundamentally different in affecting COVID-19 deaths among Blacks, and Hispanics nationwide, as well as in the 14 States and in the 5 States.