June 24, 2020

While interpretations of early data framed the COVID-19 pandemic as the “great equalizer,” racial inequities in the City of Philadelphia began to emerge in March 2020, with Blacks being disproportionately impacted.

In a new brief from Dornsife's Urban Health Collaborative (UHC), researchers provide data on how racially segregated communities in Philadelphia are being affected.

The UHC found that neighborhoods with the highest levels of residential segregation are more likely to have structural characteristics that increase likelihood of exposure, community transmission, and mortality, making segregation a fundamental driver of racial inequities in the city.

These findings have implications for both short- and long-term multi-sectoral solutions to mitigate inequities.

Far from being a great equalizer, COVID-19 is reinforcing longstanding inequities that existed in Philadelphia prior to the pandemic.

As this public health crisis continues to unfold, researchers at the UHC stress that data on racial inequities must be properly contextualized and grounded in history and foundational frameworks that place structural racism at the center.

Read more about the data brief on the Urban Health Collaborative's website:

COVID-19 in Context: Racism, Segregation, and Racial Inequities in Philadelphia