Zip-code level COVID risk in Wichita Falls

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and United States Census Bureau data highlights where people may be more susceptible to contracting COVID-19 – down to the tracts various zip code.

On a scale of 1-10, across 500 cities, the average COVID-19 risk was 5.5. In the Wichita Falls area, the risk is 8.

Level of risk is based on CDC information on:

• Social vulnerability with variables like income and overcrowded housing.
• Chronic health conditions related to increased COVID-19 risk, including heart disease, high blood pressure, kidney disease, diabetes and obesity.
• COVID-related demographics like age and minority status.

Some parts of the city fared better than others for COVID risk.

With a COVID risk of 10, tracts in 76301, 76307 and 76302 fared the worst in the Wichita Falls area. These zip codes are mainly in the east and southeast areas of the city.

The lowest COVID risk was a tract in zip code 76311 near Sheppard Air Force Base where the risk level was one.

The CDC said hyper-localized information is the key to helping municipal leaders design and direct COVID-19 response and resources.

Along with COVID risk, the City Health Dashboard, created by researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation provides neighborhood-level information on several health, social and economic factors for 750 cities in the United States. The COVID risk level is available for 500 cities.

“While COVID-19 affects every community, we know its harm is disproportionately greater in certain groups, including people of color, those with underlying health conditions, older people, and frontline workers with low incomes,” says Marc N. Gourevitch, MD, MPH, the Muriel G. and George W. Singer Professor of Population Health and chair of the Department of Population Health at NYU Langone, as well as the principal architect of the City Health Dashboard. “We also know that there can be huge variations in risk level between neighborhoods in the same city, sometimes separated by less than a mile or two. Even cities with lower cases of COVID-19 can have individual neighborhoods with populations at higher risk. Having access to this hyperlocal data is critical for leaders needing to make urgent decisions about re-opening and deploying resources amidst the pandemic.”

Since most health data is reported on the county or state level, the City Health Dashboard is one of the few resources to data on the city and neighborhood level.

Since the City Health Dashboard launched two years ago, it has been used by city leaders and policymakers to identify health disparities in communities and create data-driven health solutions and benchmarks for health outcomes.

“The City Health Dashboard’s new data on COVID-19 local risks provides a map for mayors and city managers on where to focus resources to improve health outcomes,” said David Eichenthal, executive director of the National Resource Network and former city official in New York City and Chattanooga, Tennessee. “At the local level, we’ve known for years that these health disparities exist from city to city and neighborhood to neighborhood. But the dashboard, for the first time, provides city leaders with vital information to take on these challenges to help combat the worst effects of the pandemic and create more equitable communities.”

The City Health Dashboard displays 35 measures of health which can be compared against other cities and metrics to provide a more complete picture of health in various neighborhoods within cities.

View the City Health Dashboard for Wichita Falls here.

Data on other cities across the U.S. can be viewed at https://www.cityhealthdashboard.com/.

Claire Kowalick, a senior journalist for the Times Record News, covers local government, military and MSU Texas. If you have a news tip, contact Claire at ckowalick@gannett.com.

Twitter: @KowalickNews