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TUESDAY, June 16, 2020 (HealthDay News) — The rate of COVID-19 cases is increased on American Indian reservations with larger proportions of homes lacking complete indoor plumbing, according to a study published in the July\/August issue of the Journal of Public Health Management & Practice<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Desi Rodriguez-Lonebear, Ph.D., from the University of Arizona School of Sociology in Tucson, and colleagues conducted a multivariate analysis to examine the household and community characteristics most closely associated with variation in COVID-19 incidence on American Indian reservations in the lower 48 states. As of April 10, 2020, there were 861 COVID-19 cases on 287 American Indian Reservations and tribal homelands.<\/p>\n
The researchers found that the rate of COVID-19 cases per 1,000 people was higher on reservations with larger proportions of homes lacking complete indoor plumbing (10.83 per 1,000) and was lower on reservations that had a higher percentage of English language-only households (\u22122.43 per 1,000). There was no significant correlation seen for household overcrowding measures.<\/p>\n
“Together, these findings support assertions regarding the structural determinants of this disease,” the authors write. “Specifically, the social conditions defining day-to-day life — whether or not families have access to water and whether or not health directives are accessible to their understanding — are as consequential as the viral properties that define infectivity and pathogenesis.”<\/p>\n
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