COVID-19's recent spread shifts to suburban, whiter, and more Republican-leaning areas

[Midnightwalk]

Brookings Institute
William H. Frey April 22, 2020

There is a stereotypical view of the places in America that COVID-19 has affected most: they are broadly urban, comprised predominantly of racial minorities, and strongly vote Democratic. This underlines the public’s perception of what kinds of populations reside in areas highly exposed to the coronavirus, as well as some of the recent political arguments over social distancing measures and the states easing their restrictions.

While that perception of high-prevalence areas was accurate during the earlier stages of the pandemic, COVID-19’s recent spread has changed the picture. During the first three weeks of April, new counties showing a high prevalence of COVID-19 cases are more suburban, whiter, and voted more strongly for Donald Trump than counties the virus hit first. These findings result from a new analysis of counties with high COVID-19 prevalence rates (more than 100 confirmed cases per 100,000 population) based on data available from The New York Times and the U.S. Census Bureau.

As of March 29, 59 counties (representing 7.8% of the U.S. population) registered high COVID-19 prevalence rates. Over the subsequent three weeks, through April 19, an additional, 142, 254, and 262 counties registered a high prevalence—increasing the shares of the U.S. population living in such counties by 11.8%, 11.2%, and 15.7%, respectively. Thus, as of April 19, 48% of U.S. residents lived in counties with a high prevalence of COVID-19 cases.

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More at
[link:https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2020/04/22/as-covid-19-spreads-newly-affected-areas-look-much-different-than-previous-ones|]

[Tiger8]

1. Oh, just don't stand there - DO SOMETHING!

No crisis is real until a Republican get sick.

For some reason this reminds me of Nancy Reagan and stem cell research. They were 100% pro-life and didn’t give a damn about Alzheimer’s until Ronald Reagan got sick, and then it was, “Ohhh, Ronnie is sick!! RONNIE IS SICK!!! Oh, we must all pitch in now and I don’t give a damn those awful prolifers! Ronnie needs our help, and you must all do your part to defeat the monster we created!”

[Joinfortmill]

2. Covid19 may be the thing that brings Trump down

You can't bully or bluff a virus.

[Squinch]

3. VERY interesting article. Thank you.