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

ABSTRACT

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.