COVID-19 Pandemic
Arrests, Policing, and COVID-19 Vulnerability Index by Community Area within Chicago, IL Allison Boretsky* Allison Boretsky Aveline Roderick Victoria Fisher Nadia N. Abuelezam
Background: Police presence and arrests in marginalized communities have led to increased distress, general distrust towards police, and negative health outcomes in citizens. Police have been used to enforce COVID-19 social distancing policies and other COVID-19 related interventions, despite most not being trained public health professionals.We aim to assess the relationship between police enforcement and subsequent community COVID-19 vulnerability and outcomes in Chicago between 2019 and 2020.
Methods: The Chicago COVID-19 Vulnerability Index (CCVI) ranks communities on 10 variables to assess social vulnerability to COVID-19 (i.e. socioeconomic status) and COVID-19 impact (i.e. incidence and mortality). Higher CCVI scores indicate a higher COVID-19 vulnerability. Using 2019 and 2020 arrest data, we compared total arrests per community area with the community’s CCVI score. We used Pearson’s correlation test to determine the correlation between CCVI scores and 2019 and 2020 arrests, respectively.
Results: In both 2019 and 2020, the greatest number of arrests occurred in Austin and North Lawndale (categorized as “high COVID-19 vulnerability” areas). The Pearson’s correlation coefficient between 2019 total arrests and CCVI score was 0.28 (95% CI: 0.06, 0.47) with a p-value of 0.01. The Pearson’s correlation coefficient between 2020 total arrests and CCVI score was 0.30 (95% CI: 0.08, 0.49) with a p-value of 0.007.
Conclusion: The most policed communities in 2019 were considered highly vulnerable on the CCVI index in 2020. Communities most heavily impacted by COVID-19, including by COVID-19 mortality, were more heavily policed in 2020 than communities with lower CCVI scores. This suggests that in addition to worse COVID-19 outcomes, the pandemic disproportionately exacerbated the inequities marginalized communities faced.