Abstract View
Racial Disparities in Fine Particulate Matter Exposure and COVID-19 Spread in the United States
PAYTON BEELER, Rajan K. Chakrabarty, Washington University in St. Louis
Abstract Number: 216
Working Group: Infectious Aerosols in the Age of COVID-19
Abstract
Minority populations across the United States (US) have been disproportionately affected by 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. However, the underlying reasons for the rapidity of disease spread in minority communities are not clear. Here, we investigate the relative impact of disparities in 28 confounding factors on the basic reproduction ratio (R0) of COVID-19 in twelve major metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) in the US at the county-level. We infer county-level R0 using an established metapopulation epidemiological model corresponding to the period March 1–April 30, 2020 marked by a rapid surge in COVID-19 cases across the US states and implementation of strict lockdown measures. On average, we find that a 10% increase in long-term, ambient PM2.5 exposure (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter 2.5 μm or less) is associated with a 7.6% increase in R0, an outsized effect in comparison to other factors. In addition, we find that the largest disparities in PM2.5 exposure and subsequently in R0 are concentrated among Hispanic-American communities, followed by Asian-American and African-American communities, respectively. These findings highlight the effects of longstanding geographic segregation of minority communities. Geographic segregation of minority communities has led to extremely large fluctuations in county-level racial and ethnic minority fractions, in turn leading to large disparities in PM2.5 exposure and COVID-19 spread. We conclude by providing each MSA with a roadmap for identifying which communities should be targeted for PM2.5 mitigation policy implementation.