ATLANTA — New data from the CDC reinforces what we've aleady seen play out during the pandemic: communities of color and places with poverty are more vulnerable to becoming COVID-19 hot spots.
Researchers looked at counties across the nation with rapidly increasing infection rates. They found these areas tended to have a higher percentage of racial and ethnic minority residents, as well as crowded housing units. This was especially true in less urban areas.
Thursday's report from the CDC did not identify specific counties or states, but in 2018, the CDC did classify dozens of Georgia counties south of Macon and Augusta as having the highest social vulnerability in the state.
These include some of the same southwest counties that were highlighted as COVID-19 hotspots near the beginning of the pandemic in Georgia.
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