It’s probably fair to say that the coronavirus pandemic has not affected every community equally, whether in turns of its health impact or the economic impact.  For instance, analysis by the University of Southampton found that coastal communities across the UK are likely to be significantly affected by the economic lockdown measures, due in large part to their reliance on tourism.

The report suggests former industrial towns are also at risk, but this is due to longer-term consequences of the crisis.  Of the 20 towns identified as being most at risk, nine were coastal towns, and a further 10 were ex-industrial.

The Milken Institute have extended this kind of analysis to the United States, with the release of a Covid-19 Community Explorer tool to allow people to determine the various community-wide risk factors that render some communities vulnerable to the virus.

Vulnerable communities

“Our platform and analysis highlight the intersections at play between health, demographics, and socioeconomic indicators,” the team explain. “When we consider population size, race, age, or preexisting health conditions, we find that a single characteristic is not responsible for COVID-19 cases and deaths within communities. Rather, it is a combination of factors in underserved communities that contribute to making some areas more vulnerable to the virus.”

The new, comprehensive tool features:

• An interactive map allowing users to toggle between community characteristics in relation to COVID-19 cases and deaths in more than 2,800 counties.
• An interactive map highlighting the 100 most affected communities across the country.
• A table summarizing the key health and social characteristics of the most and least affected counties nationwide.

“Again, what we see when exploring the data is that determining what communities may see a resurgence for COVID-19 is much more nuanced,” Milken continue. “But the analysis is vital, particularly as we see that the 100 most affected counties represent only 8% of the population, but account for 41% of all COVID-19 deaths and 30% of all cases.”

10 Most Affected Communities

*see the full list here.

1. Early, Georgia

2. Terrell, Georgia

3. Hancock, Georgia

4. Randolph, Georgia

5. Essex, New Jersey

6. Northampton, Virginia

7. Nassau, New York

8. Union, New Jersey

9. Passaic, New Jersey

10. St. John the Baptist, Louisiana