Table 2.
Associations of implicit and explicit racial bias with COVID-19 rates per 10,000 individuals in the county using standardized coefficients: adjusted for confounders (Adjusted) or adjusted for confounders with relevant transformations and interactions (Adjusted and Transformed).
| Anti-Black Racial Bias | Overall Mortality Rate (95% CI) |
Overall Incidence Rate (95% CI) |
White Incidence Rate (95% CI) |
Black Incidence Rate (95% CI) |
Black–White Incidence Rate Gap (95% CI) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | A: 2,994/ AT: 2,933 |
A: 2,994/ AT: 2,933 |
957 | 957 | 957 | |
| Implicit Bias | Adjusted | 0.9 *** (0.54, 1.25) |
12.11 *** (6.96, 17.25) |
4.20 ** (1.65, 6.75) |
10.25 *** (5.00, 15.51) |
6.05 ** (2.61, 9.50) |
| R2 | 0.50 | 0.24 | 0.54 | 0.30 | 0.17 | |
| Adjusted and Transformed | 0.65 *** (0.39, 0.91) |
8.42 *** (4.64, 12.20) |
4.89 *** (2.19, 7.59) |
7.54 ** (2.10, 12.97) |
2.65 (−0.93, 6.23) |
|
| R2 | 0.60 | 0.38 | 0.62 | 0.32 | 0.18 | |
| Explicit Bias | Adjusted | 0.65 *** (0.32, 0.98) |
11.24 *** (6.35, 16.13) |
4.27 ** (1.56, 6.98) |
13.1 *** (8.45, 17.75) |
8.83 *** (5.42, 12.24) |
| R2 | 0.49 | 0.24 | 0.54 | 0.31 | 0.17 | |
| Adjusted and Transformed | 0.49 *** (0.27, 0.70) |
8.83 *** (5.32, 12.35) |
4.18 ** (1.75, 6.61) |
10.29 *** (5.43, 15.15) |
6.11 ** (2.68, 9.54) |
|
| R2 | 0.59 | 0.38 | 0.62 | 0.32 | 0.19 | |
CI = confidence interval. Models estimate COVID-19 outcome rates per 10,000 individuals (and associated 95% confidence intervals). Models involving implicit and explicit bias were run separately, totaling 20 models. Coefficients are standardized on x such that each indicates the shift in y (unstandardized) associated with a one standard deviation increase in x. “Adjusted” (A) models are adjusted for median age, percent with bachelor’s degree, percent Black, percent in poverty, percent in crowded housing, population density, and percent voting Trump. “Adjusted and Transformed” (AT) models are adjusted for median age, percent with bachelor’s degree, percent with a bachelor’s degree-squared, the log of percent Black, percent in poverty, percent in crowded housing, population density, percent voting Trump, percent experiencing crowding X population density, percent with a bachelor’s degree X the log of percent Black, percent with a bachelor’s degree squared X the log of percent Black, and median age X percent voting for Trump. AT models on overall mortality and incidence rates are based on n = 2933 counties as 61 counties from the larger set of 2994 counties had percentage Black values equal to 0, thus the natural log could not be defined in those cases, resulting in the omission of these counties. Inclusion, with imputed, extremely low values for percent Black 0.007 (the lowest non-zero value occurring in our data), did not change results. To avoid imputation, we present results based on the 2933 counties for which log values could be calculated. ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001