Abstract
Objectives: Novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is a global pandemic currently spreading rapidly across the United States. We provide a comprehensive look at COVID-19 epidemiology across the state of Georgia, which includes vast rural communities that may be disproportionately impacted by the spread of this infectious disease. Methods: All 159 Georgia counties were included in this study. We examined the geographic variation of COVID-19 in Georgia from March 3 through April 24, 2020 by extracting data on incidence and mortality from various national and state datasets. We contrasted county-level mortality rates per 100,000 population (MRs) by county-level factors. Results: Metropolitan Atlanta had the overall highest number of confirmed cases; however, the southwestern rural parts of Georgia, surrounding the city of Albany, had the highest bi-weekly increases in incidence rate. Among counties with >10 cases, MRs were highest in the rural counties of Randolph (233.2), Terrell (182.5), Early (136.3), and Dougherty (114.2). Counties with the highest MRs (22.5–2332 per 100,000) had a higher proportion of: non-Hispanic Blacks residents, adults aged 60+, adults earning <$20,000 annually, and residents living in rural communities when compared with counties with lower MRs. These counties also had a lower proportion of the population with a college education, lower number of ICU beds per 100,000 population, and lower number of primary care physicians per 10,000 population. Conclusions: While urban centers in Georgia account for the bulk of COVID-19 cases, high mortality rates and low critical care capacity in rural Georgia are also of critical concern.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 527-532 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | JACEP Open |
Volume | 1 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Aug 2020 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2020 The Authors. JACEP Open published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of the American College of Emergency Physicians.
Keywords
- COVID-19
- epidemiology
- geographic distribution
- Georgia
- geospatial
- incidence
- novel coronavirus
- SARS-CoV-2
- social determinants
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Emergency Medicine