Regions at highest risk for serious COVID-19 cases – NBC 5 Dallas Fort Worth

NBC 5 survey, Working with the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston to exclusively examine the Dallas area, where people infected with COVID-19 are likely to develop the most serious infections and need critical care and ventilators Was.

Areas in the red zone on the map below have the highest prevalence of risk factors for severe COVID-19 disease. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, these conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes, stroke, asthma, COPD, kidney disease, and obesity, can cause coronavirus patients to land in already stressed hospitals. Many.

Map data provided by the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston:
“Data were taken from two federal sources. A five-year summary of the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, released in December 2019, and the CDC’s 500 Cities Project. Based on respondents’ self-reports from risk factor surveys, these data are displayed at the census level of the 500 largest cities in the United States, combined with two data sources from each of the three cities and reported on a map Our goal is to highlight the highest risk areas in each city, so rank the tracts individually and identify the top 20% of the tracts with the highest values. “

Dr. Stephen Linder, director of the Health Policy Institute at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, said that mapping out more hazardous areas was essential to prepare for the surge of COVID-19 in cities. He said there was a possibility.

“Once they are clear, we can better target our resources. We can work with the population most likely to demand a hospital care system,” Linder said. I am.

Linder and his team, Dritana Marko and Thomas F. Reynolds, analyzed data collected by the CDC and the US Census Bureau to identify census tracts with the highest prevalence of risk factors.

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One of these zones is east of the Central Highway and south of Forest Lane. The other runs north of Interstate 30, east of Loop 12, toward downtown Dallas. There is also a red zone east of Buckner Boulevard and north of Interstate 30, leading to Mesquite.

However, the largest and smallest healthy part of the city where people are most at risk is the vast area of ​​South Dallas between the 67 US Highway in the west and the CF Horn Freeway in the east. It is in that area that Linder’s team said that the case of COVID-19 was much more likely to require hospitalization.

“This is the south central region where there is a census area with the highest prevalence of up to seven different chronic disease states, not just one or two,” Linder said.

Edgar Love lives in the Queen City area west of Fair Park.

“I live in the food desert.
As a desert for a family medical clinic. I have to go where they are. ”
Love taking a blood pressure medicine and approaching 69^Th birthday.

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The most worrisome Dallas County judge Clay Jenkins when looking at the map is the neighborhood of love, where others are marked in red.

“If we want to control this, we know these are the spots that require the most intensive intervention,” Jenkins said in an interview NBC 5 Survey.

Much of South Dallas
Insurance, doctor is absent in neighborhood, chronic health condition goes
Without treatment, the population is at significant risk of a pandemic.

“It’s not just bad
They and their families. It will hurt us all in our public health. And
Now we see it, “said Jenkins.

NBC 5 Survey

In addition to concerns, some of the zip codes in Dallas County, where the risk factors are most concentrated, are among the ones the virus has already attacked heavily.

As of Tuesday, Dallas County Department of Health and Human Services reported 75227 postal codes south of I-30 and along Buckner Boulevard, with DeSoto’s 75115 postal codes ranging from 38 to 47 cases each. 75216 postal codes in southeast Dallas ranged from 29 to 37 cases.

The Dallas County Health Service said it has already surged in these areas, including a drive-through virus testing site at Ellis Davis Field House on 9111 S. Polk Street.

“We have outreach workers walking down the streets in these areas, creating special educational materials, and working with some of the shopkeepers,” said Philip, director of the Dallas County Department of Health and Human Services. Says Huang.

Another shortcoming of South Dallas’ coronavirus control and prevention capacity is the fact that most major hospitals are located in other parts of the city, according to an analysis by NBC 5 partners in The Dallas Morning News.

According to newspaper studies, residents in these areas had to travel longer distances to reach full-fledged hospitals. The Dallas VA Medical Center on 4500 S. Lancaster Road was restricted to military veterans and, in some cases, their families.

Many of the most seriously ill Covid-19 patients in Dallas County have diabetes. One in four patients admitted to the ICU had diabetes. In their study, UT Health researchers looked at the Dallas area, which is over 60 years old, most affected by diabetes and heart disease. One of the largest concentrations of these risk factors was found in a southern Dallas area near Interstate 45 and Interstate 20.

Alvaro Saenz, MD Medical Group’s head of services to low-income households in South Dallas, NBC 5 Survey They work hard to keep patients’ chronic health needs current during a pandemic.

“To be honest, call the patient and say,” OK, did you take the drug this week? If not … “What can we help you?”

Jenkins and Huang have said they would like to extend the nearby COVID-19 test identified as the red zone in a map developed by UT Health, but with limited test capacity and funding. Still, they say they are looking for ways to focus more on those high-risk zones, and detecting cases and reducing the spread of the virus in those areas can protect the most vulnerable I knew it.

“This is the population
It will suffer most. And that is why we are really worried
We will invest resources in this area and support as much as possible. ”
Above.

He and other county officials have urged all people to take extreme precautions during this crisis, no matter where they live, because COVID-19 does not choose by zip code.

NBC 5 Survey

Everyone is at risk, even if they do not live in areas where they are more likely to develop serious infections.

Edgar Love in South Dallas
He said he was listening to warnings just like his neighbors
The virus does not want to knock on his door.

“I try to be safe … stay as long as possible,” he said.

For more on this story, see Wednesday’s Morning News on Zadar.. To view the complete UT Health Survey for Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio, open the following document: