COVID-19 Poised to Hit Hardest in the Eastern Crescent

Natasha Harper-Madison: "I see East Austin as a powder keg just waiting to explode." (Photo by John Anderson)

Up until now, reported COVID-19 cases in Travis County have mirrored the community's racial and ethnic demographics, but health officials warn that is likely to change. Nationally, hospitalizations and deaths from the disease among people of color, and especially among Black Americans, are disproportionately high, and the latest data as the Chronicle went to press shows local gaps widening as well.

As of April 15, Black patients accounted for 10% of local COVID-19 cases, while Hispanics (of any race) made up 39%. Both numbers are slightly higher than those groups' shares of the total county population. Austin Public Health has yet to release data showing how outcomes differ by race or ethnicity, but elsewhere in the country those differences are stark. In Chicago, for example, Black residents account for 30% of the city population, but more than 70% of its COVID-19-related deaths.

Officials in Houston and Dallas say Black people in their jurisdictions are dying at higher rates as well, and Austin reflects the same demographic disparities: Black and Latinx Austinites are more likely to live in poverty and to suffer from chronic health conditions – such as asthma and diabetes – that create risks of severe COVID-19 complications. Researchers from UT-Austin show that the highest concentrations of COVID-19 risk are in the county's Eastern Crescent.

"I see East Austin as a powder keg just waiting to explode," Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison said of the potential for her East­side district. "People having less discretionary income, less access to health care and transportation, and really just less familial wealth. Most of what we're talking about in terms of structural inequity is deeply rooted in racism." While these negative social determinants of health could make the impact of the virus worse, APH Interim Health Authority Dr. Mark Escott told reporters this week, "At some stage we'll move on from COVID-19, and those inequities will still be there."

CommUnityCare, the clinic system funded by Central Health, will be reopening some sites in the Eastern Crescent that had been closed to conserve medical resources – Hornsby Bend, Del Valle, Manor, and Community First! Village. CUC will also bring drive-up COVID-19 testing, currently available at its Hancock Center clinic, to these Eastern sites and others, including Colony Park and Dove Springs, on a rotating basis throughout the week. A CUC spokesperson told us caseworkers are following up by phone with people confirmed to have the virus, and are coordinating food delivery through the Central Texas Food Bank to help confirmed cases isolate.