COVID-19 hotspots in Canada concentrated by urban environments: study

Racialized communities are experiencing much higher rates of COVID-19 infection, according to a study of hotspots in Canadian cities.

The study looked at infection rates in 16 urban centres, including Vancouver, Hamilton, Quebec City, and Winnipeg. Researchers observed concentrations of cases according to social determinants of health such as income, education level, and visible minority status.

“The pandemic has not treated everybody equally and we need to recognize that, and we need to adapt our response to the pandemic to those who have suffered the most,” said Dr. Alan Katz, an author on the study.

The director for the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy says visible minority status was the social determinant of health that was consistent across all COVID-19 hotspots.

Other factors included working in essential services and access to housing.

Katz notes Winnipeg did not have as high a concentration of COVID-19 hotspots compared to Toronto and Vancouver due to the differences in urban environments.

“So in Winnipeg, we don’t have a particular high density area with huge high rises, 25-storey high rises with multiple families living in apartments and things like that. We just don’t have that density of housing, whereas, clearly, cities like Toronto and Vancouver do,” he explained.

Katz notes this study is consistent with others conducted in Canada, Sweden, and the U.S., providing evidence COVID-19 hotspots are largely defined by occupation, income, housing, and proxies for structural racism.

“None of which are simple to fix, these are societal issues,” added Katz of the factors.

Addressing poverty in Winnipeg

“COVID has made it very apparent that there are hidden pockets of poverty that have become more overt lately,” explained Desiree McIvor, a spokesperson for Make Poverty History Manitoba.

McIvor is working with the city on the first-ever reduced poverty strategy for 2021 to 2031. She says poverty is strongly linked to social determinants of health, including worse outcomes from COVID-19.

She is pleased the executive policy committee voted in favour of the Poverty Reduction Strategy, but worries a decade might be too long to wait for change that’s needed now.

She notes the political landscape could also change in that time.

“We do elections every four years, so one government could be in favour of it and then another will be like be elected in the future and then we’re right back in square one again,” McIvor said.

Katz notes the Indigenous community in Manitoba has disproportionately faced the worst impacts of COVID-19. He suggests regional initiatives, like targeted vaccine rollouts and mobile outreach, have been effective at reaching community members who are at higher risk of COVID-19 outbreaks.