Exploring the Geospatial Relationship Between COVID-19 Positivity and Income in Mixed Urban-Rural Population.

Publisher: IOS Press Country of Publication: Netherlands NLM ID: 9214582 Publication Model: Print Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1879-8365 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 09269630 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Stud Health Technol Inform

Original Publication: Amsterdam ; Washington, DC : IOS Press, 1991-

Rural Population* ; COVID-19*/diagnosis ; COVID-19*/epidemiology; Humans ; Pandemics ; Urban Population ; Income

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a deep influence on American life in general and on the American economy in particular. However, the burden of the pandemic has not been distributed equally among members of a population based on their social-determinants-of-health. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the median income was associated with COVID-19 total number of tests and positivity rate in Boone County, Missouri during the pandemic. We analyzed the geospatial data using three heat maps showing the Census tract-wise COVID-19 positivity rate, Census tract-wise median income, and Census tract-wise total number of COVID-19 tests to highlight our study findings. Our study results support the hypothesis that individuals with lower median income tend to have a lower total number of COVID-19 tests and higher COVID-19 positivity rates in Boone County, Missouri. The Pearson correlation coefficient between the positivity rate and median income is -0.324.

Keywords: COVID-19; geospatial analysis; income disease correlation

Date Created: 20240125 Date Completed: 20240126 Latest Revision: 20240126

20240126

10.3233/SHTI231180

38270030