Population Mobility and Aging Accelerate the Transmission of Coronavirus Disease 2019 in the Deep South: A County-Level Longitudinal Analysis

Chengbo Zeng; Jiajia Zhang; Zhenlong Li; Xiaowen Sun; Xueying Yang; Bankole Olatosi; Sharon Weissman; Xiaoming Li

doi:10.1093/cid/ciac050

Population Mobility and Aging Accelerate the Transmission of Coronavirus Disease 2019 in the Deep South: A County-Level Longitudinal Analysis

Clin Infect Dis. 2022 May 15;74(Suppl_3):e1-e3. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciac050.

Authors

Chengbo Zeng^{1

2

3}, Jiajia Zhang^{1

3

4}, Zhenlong Li^{1

3

5}, Xiaowen Sun^{1

3

4}, Xueying Yang^{1

2

3}, Bankole Olatosi^{1

3

6}, Sharon Weissman^{3

7}, Xiaoming Li^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ South Carolina SmartState Center for Healthcare Quality, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, USA.
² Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, USA.
³ University of South Carolina Big Data Health Science Center, Columbia, South Carolina, USA.
⁴ Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, USA.
⁵ Geoinformation and Big Data Research Laboratory, Department of Geography, College of Arts and Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, USA.
⁶ Department of Health Services Policy and Management, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, USA.
⁷ Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, USA.

Abstract

Population mobility and aging at local areas contributed to the geospatial disparities in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) transmission among 418 counties in the Deep South. In predicting the incidence of COVID-19, a significant interaction was found between mobility and the proportion of older adults. Effective disease control measures should be tailored to vulnerable communities.

Keywords: COVID-19; Deep South; Disparities; Incidence; Population mobility.

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

Aged
Aging
COVID-19* / epidemiology
Health Status Disparities
Humans
Incidence
United States

Grants and funding

R01 AI127203/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/United States