Public health dives deeper into COVID-19 numbers
Are racialized and lower-income groups getting hit harder?
Niagara’s public health department has begun tracking detailed COVID-19 demographics in order to eventually paint a clearer picture of who is getting sick and form policies to stem the spread of this and other diseases.
In other Ontario jurisdictions, including Hamilton and Toronto, similar data has revealed the novel coronavirus — much like many other illnesses — strikes hardest in poorer communities, racialized communities and among less educated people.
Recent analysis by Hamilton’s health department found visible minorities account for nearly 51 per cent of cases despite making up only 19 per cent of the city’s population. Of those, the Black community was most affected.
The analysis also found 27 per cent of cases are people living in low-income households even though they account for only 19 per cent of the population.
Niagara’s acting medical officer of health, Dr. Mustafa Hirji, said the local health department began collecting demographic data from the summer. That was during a period when Niagara’s infection rate was very low, sometimes producing no new cases on a daily basis.
“Now that the number of cases has risen, that kind of analysis will be more meaningful,” said Hirji, who noted the provincial government has ordered public health units to collect the data.
Since the rise in cases is fairly recent — it started in late August — Hirji said it will take some time for the health department to collect enough data to conduct a useful analysis.
However, he said he won’t be surprised to find the situation in Niagara mirrors that of cities like Hamilton in part because communities that rank lowest on particular indicators are almost always over-represented in statistics about disease.
The health department regularly tracts metrics called the “social determinants of health,” which include income and education levels, access to healthcare services, gender, race and the local environment.
This granular data allows the health department to learn where its programs can be targeted to help communities in need.
Hirji said in the case of COVID-19, the analysis will not just show who is getting sick, but may shed light on why the virus is more active in some communities than others.
For example, he said if people are living in cramped apartments or homes where physical distancing from others is much difficult, COVID-19 will have an easier time spreading.
“This may allow us to recommend new social policies (to improve the situation).”
Each day, the health department releases the number of new cases, age of infected people and where they live, along with information about healthcare workers versus long-term care residents who have COVID-19 and other information.
That data showed Thursday that 10 more Niagara residents contracted the virus, representing the fourth consecutive day of double-digit case increases, although that number is in keeping with Niagara’s post-summer COVID-19 trend.
Thursday data also showed the overall reproductive rate of the virus — a number that estimates how many people a single infected person can spread the virus to — declined in the period from Oct. 11 to Oct. 17 to 0.8 from 0.9.
Hirji said the current number reflects a small, but noticeable decline in the infection rate over the period when Niagara posted several days of singledigit case growth.
It does not yet account for more recent days when the case count increased into the double digits.