Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) mortality and neighborhood characteristics in Chicago

To describe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) mortality in Chicago during the spring of 2020 and identify at the census-tract level neighborhood characteristics that were associated with higher COVID-19 mortality rates.

Using Poisson regression and regularized linear regression (elastic net), we evaluated the association between neighborhood characteristics and COVID-19 mortality rates in Chicago through July 22 (2514 deaths across 795 populated census tracts).

Black residents (31% of the population) accounted for 42% of COVID-19 deaths. Deaths among Hispanic/Latino residents occurred at a younger age (63 years, compared with 71 for white residents). Regarding residential setting, 52% of deaths among white residents occurred inside nursing homes, compared with 35% of deaths among black residents and 17% among Hispanic/Latino residents. Higher COVID-19 mortality was seen in neighborhoods with heightened barriers to social distancing and low health insurance coverage. Neighborhoods with a higher percentage of white and Asian residents had lower COVID-19 mortality. The associations differed by race, suggesting that neighborhood context may be most tightly linked to COVID-19 mortality among white residents.

We describe communities that may benefit from supportive services and identify traits of communities that may benefit from targeted campaigns for prevention and testing to prevent future deaths from COVID-19.