Data Shows Most Chicago Area COVID-19 Deaths Linked to Three Health Conditions

It was once referred to as “the great equalizer,” but data on COVID-19-related deaths in Chicago shows that the deadly virus's impact is far from equitable. Nearly every COVID-19-related death in the Chicago area involved patients with at least one of three conditions: high blood pressure, diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ( COPD ). Meanwhile, the virus is infecting Chicago’s poor and African-American communities at disproportionate rates.

Most COVID-19 Deaths Linked to Three Chronic Health Issues

Of the 394 COVID-19-related deaths recorded by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office through April 10, 2020, 85 percent also involved at least one of three health conditions. Hypertension (high blood pressure) was the secondary cause of death for 74 percent of victims. Diabetes showed up as the secondary cause for 47 percent of deaths, and 18 percent of the victims also suffered from COPD, an inflammatory disease that attacks the lungs, usually caused by smoking tobacco.

The data could help people better understand the communities that are most vulnerable during the pandemic, especially as the narrative surrounding who is most at risk perpetually shifts. During the early days of the outbreak, it was said that the elderly were most vulnerable to the disease and that the virus was similar to the flu (98 percent of Cook County COVID-19 deaths involved people over 40). But later, many, including the governor of New York Andrew Cuomo, dubbed it “the great equalizer.” Through data we see things are more nuanced.

Chicago COVID-19 Cases Most Prevalant in South and West Sides

It was clear from Chicago’s pre-rendered maps that the virus’s impact on the city mimicked the impact of many of the town’s other plagues, from poverty to violence. David Eads, of the Chicago Reporter, and formerly Propublica Illinois, pointed out in 2018 that Chicago’s issues with inequality and segregation seem to yield strikingly similar maps, despite covering different topics. Maps of the city constantly highlight how segregated the town is and how the city’s South and West Sides suffer disproportionately from the rest of the city. In this case the South and West Sides have more coronavirus cases per capita than many other parts of the city, while much of the North Side has much fewer cases.

Chicago’s official COVID-19 maps seem to be quantile-style. But using an equal interval choropleth instead of the quantile map, we can see that a couple communities stand out. The East Garfield Park and Near West Side area (zip code 60612) has some of the highest infection rates in the city. In quantile maps this information gets hidden as the zip code gets lumped in the same category as the rest of the West Side.

Not all of the hardest-hit areas are black communities on the South and West Sides, The West Ridge/West Rogers Park area on the city’s far North Side the second-most COVID-19 cases in the city. The area happens to have a thriving Jewish population. With West Ridge being one of the most diverse areas in the city, it’s difficult to know just how hard the Jewish enclave in particular has been hit by the virus, but throughout the country Jewish communities have struggled to balance cultural traditions with new isolation and self distancing customs, leading to a disproportionate number of cases. In New York City, which has the largest Jewish population in the United States, some of the hardest-hit areas serve large Jewish enclaves.

Higher COVID-19 Death Rates in South and West Side Neighborhoods

But coronavirus cases tell only part of the story. Death rates paint a different picture. The map above depicts total deaths compared to total positive cases. The West Rogers Park area now has some of the lowest death rates in the city. Though again, we see that the South and West Sides generally have higher rates than the rest of the city. A handful of communities have particularly high rates. In fact, a look at the data shows that the per capita COVID-19 death rate is twice as high for black residents than white ones.

Why is this? Why are black communities so disproportionately affected by the novel coronavirus? This is the question people will spend the next months, possibly years, trying to answer. Most people who die from COVID-19 have underlying health conditions. African-Americans suffer from certain chronic health issues, including hypertension and diabetes, at higher rates than others. Though there are also other reasons to explore. Many African-Americans in the city may also work in industries that put them on the frontlines of the outbreak (nursing, transportation, city jobs, service jobs, etc.), and can live in households with more people. There are also conversations to be had about access to health care, insurance, and even healthy food, the lack of which can contribute to underlying conditions that make a battle with COVID-19 more difficult. This is not to mention a lack of trust in a healthcare system that has failed minority communities in several ways. Some black people may still be marred by stories like the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiments and reports of black mothers dying in hospitals at higher rates, possibly because some doctors take them and their pain less seriously. Many have discussed the hesitancy people in the black community have with rushing to see doctors for ailments, delaying visits until conditions worsen. There is a lot to unpack, though the COVID-19 numbers could be a starting point.

Going forward, raw, granular data can give insight into how inequality kills. Chicago is infamous for its racial segregation, and the ultimate disparities that spawn from it. These COVID-19 numbers only drive home the severity of the issue. Most Chicagoland patients who have died from COVID-19 are black people with one of three underlying conditions. In Chicago most live in on the South and West Sides. Still, there is a conversation to be had about a need for all Americans, whether black, white, Jewish, Latinx, etc. to reconsider their approach to health and wellness. But there is also a conversation to be had about how disenfranchisement, inequality, segregation and isolation may act as barriers to the first conversation.

Cook County Medical Examiner data was obtained from Cook County data portal. Population numbers for per capita calculations were taken from the 2010 U.S. Census.