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Published on: November 10, 2023
Church Closings Were Associated with Higher COVID-19 Infection Rates: Implications for Community Health Equity
Yusuf Ransome1, Hui Luan2, Insang Song2
1Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Yale School of Public Health, 60 College Street, LEPH, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA. yusuf.ransome@yale.edu.
Abstract:
This study investigates the changes in physical church closings years 2013 to 2019 in New York City (NYC), Philadelphia, and Baltimore and the association with COVID-19 infection rates. We applied Bayesian spatial binomial models to analyze confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of February 28, 2022, in each city at the zip code-level. A one unit increase in the number of churches closed corresponded to a 5% higher COVID-19 infection rate, in NYC (rate ratio = 1.05, 95% credible interval = 1.02-1.08%), where the association was significant. Church closings appears to be an important indicator of neighborhood social vulnerability. Church closings should be routinely monitored as a structural determinant of community health and to advance health equity.
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