Overview
It is widely recognized that the environmental justice movement first gained traction in 1982 in a predominately African-American community in Warren County, North Carolina. University of Michigan professors Bunyan Bryant (a graduate of EMU) and Paul Mohai were pioneers in the movement. Bunyan Bryant who in 1972 had become the first African American to join the SNRE faculty attended a meeting at the Federation of Southern Cooperative in Sumter County. Shortly after, he joined with Professor Mohai in Ann Arbor.
In the early 1990s, during the Clinton years, it was the period when the environmental justice concept “hit the radar” of the EPA and federal government. Professors Byrant and Mohai led a team of academics and activists to advise the U.S. EPA on environmental justice policy. Drs. Bryant and Mohai published
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Race and low socioeconomic status once again factor high on the list of vulnerabilities to COVID-19 infection and death in two US studies published late last week, one finding county-level inequalities and one linking ethnicity and community exposure to infections among healthcare workers (HCWs). Pockets of disadvantage everywhere
In the first study, published in JAMA Network Open, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor researchers used the Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) to analyze the sociodemographic factors of 4,289,283 coronavirus-related infections and 147,074 deaths in 3,137 US counties from late March to Jul 29, 2020.
The 10-point SVI, created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is based on US Census data on socioeconomic status, household composition (eg, number of people, single-parent status), housing, age, disability, racial/ethnic makeup, and English language proficiency. Scores range from 0 to 1, with higher scores indica
County-level sociodemographic risk factors associated with COVID-19 incidence and mortality
In just one year, COVID-19 has killed more than 400,000 Americans, and infected more than 24 million others. But a new study shows just how unevenly those deaths and cases have played out across the country.
It finds that the more disadvantaged a county s population was before the pandemic, the higher the toll of coronavirus last spring and summer.
That level of disadvantage, measured on a standard scale called the Social Vulnerability Index (SVI), tracked closely with the number of cases and deaths per 100,000 residents in each county, according to the new University of Michigan study.
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IMAGE: This map of U.S. counties shows how each scored on the Social Vulnerability Index compiled by CDC and used in this study to explore the relationship between a county s score. view more
Credit: University of Michigan/JAMA Network Open
In just one year, COVID-19 has killed more than 400,000 Americans, and infected more than 24 million others. But a new study shows just how unevenly those deaths and cases have played out across the country.
It finds that the more disadvantaged a county s population was before the pandemic, the higher the toll of coronavirus last spring and summer.
That level of disadvantage, measured on a standard scale called the Social Vulnerability Index (SVI), tracked closely with the number of cases and deaths per 100,000 residents in each county, according to the new University of Michigan study.