Racial Disparity in COVID-19 Deaths: Seeking Economic Roots with Census Data

Abstract

This note seeks the socio-economic roots of racial disparities in COVID-19 mortality, using monthly county-level mortality, economic, and demographic data from 3140 counties through December 2020. The county-level approach shows a sharp disparity affecting all minority groups in the sample, peaking in spring or summer 2020 and then dissipating by the end of autumn. The effect disappears for Asian Americans when occupation and other controls are added, but not for other minorities; for them, the racial disparity, as long as it lasts, does not seem to be due to differences in income, poverty rates, education, occupational mix, or even access to healthcare insurance, although in April public transit use explains a large part of it. This is a puzzle, but the rapid change in the disparities over the year show that they are not immutable - an important message for future pandemics.