Data Trends
May. 31st, 2020 11:50 amMy county, Middlesex County, has had the 11th highest number of Coronavirus cases per county in the U.S. Which makes it sound extremely hard hit. However, Middlesex County is also the 20th most populous county in the U.S., so you would expect it to also be in the top 20 of Coronavirus cases if they were evenly spread. On top of that, Massachusetts has a lot of healthcare providers and a very high insurance rate (our still-going state health program was the model for Obamacare), so you'd assume a higher proportion of cases is being caught and logged. Still - 11th highest county number.
Meanwhile, my zip code, which I'm not going to write here, which covers an area much smaller than Middlesex County, is one of the wealthiest zip codes in the country although Middlesex is not one of the wealthiest counties. Right now we have 3 active cases. Three. That's even though we have a hospital in our tiny town which is treating coronavirus cases that get triaged to our extra bed space.
The numbers seem to line up tidily with the broader observations around disparate impacts of the virus based on wealth and access.
Meanwhile, my zip code, which I'm not going to write here, which covers an area much smaller than Middlesex County, is one of the wealthiest zip codes in the country although Middlesex is not one of the wealthiest counties. Right now we have 3 active cases. Three. That's even though we have a hospital in our tiny town which is treating coronavirus cases that get triaged to our extra bed space.
The numbers seem to line up tidily with the broader observations around disparate impacts of the virus based on wealth and access.