IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0259803.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do racial and ethnic disparities in following stay-at-home orders influence COVID-19 health outcomes? A mediation analysis approach

Author

Listed:
  • Songhua Hu
  • Weiyu Luo
  • Aref Darzi
  • Yixuan Pan
  • Guangchen Zhao
  • Yuxuan Liu
  • Chenfeng Xiong

Abstract

Racial/ethnic disparities are among the top-selective underlying determinants associated with the disproportional impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on human mobility and health outcomes. This study jointly examined county-level racial/ethnic differences in compliance with stay-at-home orders and COVID-19 health outcomes during 2020, leveraging two-year geo-tracking data of mobile devices across ~4.4 million point-of-interests (POIs) in the contiguous United States. Through a set of structural equation modeling, this study quantified how racial/ethnic differences in following stay-at-home orders could mediate COVID-19 health outcomes, controlling for state effects, socioeconomics, demographics, occupation, and partisanship. Results showed that counties with higher Asian populations decreased most in their travel, both in terms of reducing their overall POIs’ visiting and increasing their staying home percentage. Moreover, counties with higher White populations experienced the lowest infection rate, while counties with higher African American populations presented the highest case-fatality ratio. Additionally, control variables, particularly partisanship, median household income, percentage of elders, and urbanization, significantly accounted for the county differences in human mobility and COVID-19 health outcomes. Mediation analyses further revealed that human mobility only statistically influenced infection rate but not case-fatality ratio, and such mediation effects varied substantially among racial/ethnic compositions. Last, robustness check of racial gradient at census block group level documented consistent associations but greater magnitude. Taken together, these findings suggest that US residents’ responses to COVID-19 are subject to an entrenched and consequential racial/ethnic divide.

Suggested Citation

  • Songhua Hu & Weiyu Luo & Aref Darzi & Yixuan Pan & Guangchen Zhao & Yuxuan Liu & Chenfeng Xiong, 2021. "Do racial and ethnic disparities in following stay-at-home orders influence COVID-19 health outcomes? A mediation analysis approach," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(11), pages 1-22, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0259803
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0259803
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0259803
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0259803&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0259803?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joseph Benitez & Charles Courtemanche & Aaron Yelowitz, 2020. "Racial and Ethnic Disparities in COVID-19: Evidence from Six Large Cities," Journal of Economics, Race, and Policy, Springer, vol. 3(4), pages 243-261, December.
    2. Flávio C Coelho & Raquel M Lana & Oswaldo G Cruz & Daniel A M Villela & Leonardo S Bastos & Ana Pastore y Piontti & Jessica T Davis & Alessandro Vespignani & Claudia T Codeço & Marcelo F C Gomes, 2020. "Assessing the spread of COVID-19 in Brazil: Mobility, morbidity and social vulnerability," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(9), pages 1-11, September.
    3. Daniel J McGrail & Jianli Dai & Kathleen M McAndrews & Raghu Kalluri, 2020. "Enacting national social distancing policies corresponds with dramatic reduction in COVID19 infection rates," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(7), pages 1-9, July.
    4. Anton Gollwitzer & Cameron Martel & William J. Brady & Philip Pärnamets & Isaac G. Freedman & Eric D. Knowles & Jay J. Van Bavel, 2020. "Partisan differences in physical distancing are linked to health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 4(11), pages 1186-1197, November.
    5. Jonathan Jay & Jacob Bor & Elaine O. Nsoesie & Sarah K. Lipson & David K. Jones & Sandro Galea & Julia Raifman, 2020. "Neighbourhood income and physical distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 4(12), pages 1294-1302, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Katarzyna Czech & Anna Davy & Michał Wielechowski, 2021. "Does the COVID-19 Pandemic Change Human Mobility Equally Worldwide? Cross-Country Cluster Analysis," Economies, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-19, November.
    2. Bo Huang & Zhihui Huang & Chen Chen & Jian Lin & Tony Tam & Yingyi Hong & Sen Pei, 2022. "Social vulnerability amplifies the disparate impact of mobility on COVID-19 transmissibility across the United States," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-13, December.
    3. James P. Ziliak, 2021. "Food Hardship during the COVID‐19 Pandemic and Great Recession," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(1), pages 132-152, March.
    4. Lucia Freira & Marco Sartorio & Cynthia Boruchowicz & Florencia Lopez Boo & Joaquin Navajas, 2021. "The interplay between partisanship, forecasted COVID-19 deaths, and support for preventive policies," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(1), pages 1-10, December.
    5. Emiliano Ceccarelli & Giada Minelli & Viviana Egidi & Giovanna Jona Lasinio, 2023. "Assessment of Excess Mortality in Italy in 2020–2021 as a Function of Selected Macro-Factors," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-14, February.
    6. James N. Druckman, 2022. "Threats to Science: Politicization, Misinformation, and Inequalities," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 700(1), pages 8-24, March.
    7. Ma, Mac Zewei & Chen, Sylvia Xiaohua & Wang, Xijing, 2024. "Collective pronouns, collective health actions: Predicting pandemic precautionary measures through online first-person plural pronoun usage across U.S. states," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 357(C).
    8. Hensel, Lukas & Witte, Marc & Caria, A. Stefano & Fetzer, Thiemo & Fiorin, Stefano & Götz, Friedrich M. & Gomez, Margarita & Haushofer, Johannes & Ivchenko, Andriy & Kraft-Todd, Gordon & Reutskaja, El, 2022. "Global Behaviors, Perceptions, and the Emergence of Social Norms at the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 473-496.
    9. Mauro Caselli & Andrea Fracasso & Sergio Scicchitano, 2022. "From the lockdown to the new normal: individual mobility and local labor market characteristics following the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(4), pages 1517-1550, October.
    10. Steven Stillman & Mirco Tonin, 2022. "Communities and testing for COVID-19," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 23(4), pages 617-625, June.
    11. Fang, Fanshu & Ma, Jing & Li, Yanli, 2023. "The coevolution of the spread of a disease and competing opinions in multiplex networks," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    12. Kung, Claryn S.J. & Kunz, Johannes S. & Shields, Michael A., 2023. "COVID-19 lockdowns and changes in loneliness among young people in the U.K," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 320(C).
    13. Dan Goldhaber & Scott A. Imberman & Katharine O. Strunk & Bryant G. Hopkins & Nate Brown & Erica Harbatkin & Tara Kilbride, 2022. "To What Extent Does In‐Person Schooling Contribute To The Spread Of Covid‐19? Evidence From Michigan And Washington," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(1), pages 318-349, January.
    14. Ruchi Avtar & Rajashri Chakrabarti & Lindsay Meyerson & William Nober & Maxim L. Pinkovskiy, 2020. "The Affordable Care Act and the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Regression Discontinuity Analysis," Staff Reports 948, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    15. Martin Bodenstein & Giancarlo Corsetti & Luca Guerrieri, 2022. "Social distancing and supply disruptions in a pandemic," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 13(2), pages 681-721, May.
    16. Young, Dannagal G. & Rasheed, Huma & Bleakley, Amy & Langbaum, Jessica B., 2022. "The politics of mask-wearing: Political preferences, reactance, and conflict aversion during COVID," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 298(C).
    17. Sandra H. Goff & John Ifcher & Homa Zarghamee & Alex Reents & Patrick Wade, 2023. "Support for bigger government: The principle‐implementation gap and COVID‐19," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 41(2), pages 243-261, April.
    18. Lili Li & Araz Taeihagh & Si Ying Tan, 2023. "A scoping review of the impacts of COVID-19 physical distancing measures on vulnerable population groups," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-19, December.
    19. Vincent Canwat, 2023. "Political economy of COVID-19: windows of opportunities and contestations in East Africa," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-16, December.
    20. Amy M. Wolaver & John A. Doces, 2021. "The impact of COVID‐19 and political identification on framing bias in an infectious disease experiment: The frame reigns supreme," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 102(6), pages 2459-2471, November.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0259803. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.