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How Race, Class, and Place Fuel a Pandemic (309616)

Keywords: COVID-19, place-based, race, racial equity, social justice, postgresql, postgis, poverty, public health, public policy

Advancement Project California is a racial and social justice organization doing research and advocacy. We undertook this research and policy work to better understand how systemic racism is fueling the pandemic, to develop equity-based policy recommendations, and to share and advocate for the research and recommendations with local policymakers and officials.We used LA County COVID-19 case data from the LA Times (Github), along with demographic data to analyze (postgresql) the intersection of the pandemic with race and class. We have shown that areas with higher percentages of Latinx, Black, and low-income Angelenos now have many more cases than those with lower percentages and the gaps are widening. Along with 18 community organizations, we drafted equity-based recommendations and are in conversation about this research with the Governor’s office, the LA County Department of Public Health, foundations, and others. At this time, we are planning to add asthma and air pollution to our analysis, as well as possibly taking our scope statewide. See interactive visualizations, policy recommendations, and more in our interactive report here: https://www.racecounts.org/covid/