Mor Saban|Vicki Myers|Tal Shachar|Oren Miron|Rachel Wilf–Miron
Effect of Socioeconomic and Ethnic Characteristics on COVID-19 Infection: the Case of the Ultra-Orthodox and the Arab Communities in Israel
Israel National Institute for Health Policy Research|Israel National Institute for Health Policy Research|Bar-Ilan University|Ben-Gurion University of the Negev|Tel Aviv University
infectious disease outbreaks weakest communities vulnerable infection deleterious effects israel arab ultraorthodox jewish communities unique demographic cultural characteristics place higher risk infectionto examine socioeconomic ethnic differences rates covid19 testing confirmed cases deaths analyze patterns transmission ethnically diverse communitiesa crosssectional ecologic study design used consecutive data rates covid19 diagnostic testing labconfirmed cases deaths collected march 31 may 1 2020 174 localities across israel 84 population analyzed socioeconomic ranking ethnicitytests performed 331594 individuals 429 total population 14865 individuals 448 positive covid19 203 died 137 confirmed cases testing rate 26 higher lowest se category compared highest risk testing positive 216 times higher lowest socioeconomic category compared highest proportion confirmed cases 496 times higher jewish compared arab population rate confirmed cases 2 ultraorthodox localities increased relatively early quickly jewish arab localities showed consistently low rates confirmed covid19 cases regardless socioeconomic rankingculturally different communities reacted differently covid19 outbreak government measures resulting different outcomes socioeconomic ethnic variables cannot fully explain communities reaction pandemic findings stress need culturally adapted approach dealing health crises