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  • Indigenous Peoples, concentrated disadvantage, and income inequality in New Mexico: a ZIP code-level investigation of spatially varying associations between socioeconomic disadvantages and confirmed COVID-19 cases

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Original research
Indigenous Peoples, concentrated disadvantage, and income inequality in New Mexico: a ZIP code-level investigation of spatially varying associations between socioeconomic disadvantages and confirmed COVID-19 cases
  1. Kimberly R Huyser1,
  2. Tse-Chuan Yang2,
  3. Aggie J Yellow Horse3
  1. 1 Sociology, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
  2. 2 Sociology, State University of New York, Albany, New York, USA
  3. 3 School of Social Transformation, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
  1. Correspondence to Dr Kimberly R Huyser, Sociology, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1, Canada; kimberly.huyser{at}ubc.ca

Abstract

Background The coronavirus disease pandemic has disproportionately affected poor and racial/ethnic minority individuals and communities, especially Indigenous Peoples. The object of this study is to understand the spatially varying associations between socioeconomic disadvantages and the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in New Mexico at the ZIP code level.

Methods We constructed ZIP code-level data (n=372) using the 2014–2018 American Community Survey and COVID-19 data from the New Mexico Department of Health (as of 24 May 2020). The log-linear Poisson and geographically weighted Poisson regression are applied to model the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases (total population as the offset) in a ZIP code.

Results The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in a ZIP code is positively associated with socioeconomic disadvantages—specifically, the high levels of concentrated disadvantage and income inequality. It is also positively associated with the percentage of American Indian and Alaskan Native populations, net of other potential confounders at the ZIP code level. Importantly, these associations are spatially varying in that some ZIP codes suffer more from concentrated disadvantage than others.

Conclusions Additional attention for COVID-19 mitigation effort should focus on areas with higher levels of concentrated disadvantage, income inequality, and higher percentage of American Indian and Alaska Native populations as these areas have higher incidence of COVID-19. The findings also highlight the importance of plumbing in all households for access to clean and safe water, and the dissemination of educational materials aimed at COVID-19 prevention in non-English language including Indigenous languages.

  • health inequalities
  • epidemics
  • ethnicity
  • public health
  • socio-economic

Data availability statement

Data are available in a public, open access repository. We use publicly available data. The data are from the 2014–2018 American Community Survey five-year estimates and COVID-19 data from the New Mexico Department of Health website accessed on 24 May 2020. The data can be found at these two websites: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/technical-documentation/table-and-geography-changes/2018/5-year.html; https://cvprovider.nmhealth.org/public-dashboard.html.

This article is made freely available for use in accordance with BMJ’s website terms and conditions for the duration of the covid-19 pandemic or until otherwise determined by BMJ. You may use, download and print the article for any lawful, non-commercial purpose (including text and data mining) provided that all copyright notices and trade marks are retained.

https://bmj.com/coronavirus/usage

https://doi.org/10.1136/jech-2020-215055

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    Data availability statement

    Data are available in a public, open access repository. We use publicly available data. The data are from the 2014–2018 American Community Survey five-year estimates and COVID-19 data from the New Mexico Department of Health website accessed on 24 May 2020. The data can be found at these two websites: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/technical-documentation/table-and-geography-changes/2018/5-year.html; https://cvprovider.nmhealth.org/public-dashboard.html.

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    Footnotes

    • Twitter @NavajoProf, @DrYellowHorse

    • Contributors All authors participated in the formulation of the research questions and writing. TCY is responsible for the data analysis. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Map disclaimer The depiction of boundaries on this map does not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of BMJ (or any member of its group) concerning the legal status of any country, territory, jurisdiction or area or of its authorities. This map is provided without any warranty of any kind, either express or implied.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.