Masking Mandate Policies and Community-Level Factors Associated with COVID-19 Cases Spread in the State of Texas.

IF 2.4 3区医学 Q2 PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH

Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities Pub Date : 2025-10-14 DOI:10.1007/s40615-025-02688-z

Eduardo Pérez, Samuel K Greer, Mary Van, Kenneth Skidmore, Kenroy Williams, Francis A Méndez Mediavilla

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Abstract

This exploratory study investigates the intersection of county demographics, healthcare disparities, and COVID-19 policies with COVID-19 outcomes in Texas. Using hierarchical clustering, random forest, and multinomial logistic regression algorithms, the study analyzes COVID-19 case data from March 4, 2020, to December 15, 2020, across 254 Texas counties. The findings reveal six distinct clusters, with key differentiating factors including the number of days under mask mandate, number of churches, population density, water area, and proportion of African American population. Longer mask mandates are associated with higher case rates, suggesting remedial rather than preventive implementation. Higher population density and more churches per person correlate with steeper case increases. Access to bodies of water and the proportion of the African American population were also associated with case trends. These insights helped us formulate hypotheses that can inform tailored public health interventions to address regional characteristics within Texas.

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掩盖与德克萨斯州COVID-19病例传播相关的授权政策和社区层面因素。

本探索性研究调查了德克萨斯州县人口统计、医疗差距和COVID-19政策与COVID-19结果的交集。该研究使用分层聚类、随机森林和多项逻辑回归算法，分析了2020年3月4日至2020年12月15日德克萨斯州254个县的COVID-19病例数据。调查结果揭示了六个不同的集群，关键的区分因素包括戴口罩的天数、教堂数量、人口密度、水域面积和非裔美国人的比例。较长的口罩使用期限与较高的病例率相关，这表明实施的是补救性措施，而不是预防性措施。更高的人口密度和更多的人均教堂与更陡峭的病例增长相关。获得水体和非裔美国人人口比例也与病例趋势有关。这些见解帮助我们制定了假设，可以为量身定制的公共卫生干预措施提供信息，以解决德克萨斯州的区域特征。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH-

CiteScore

7.30

自引率

5.10%

发文量

263

期刊介绍： Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities reports on the scholarly progress of work to understand, address, and ultimately eliminate health disparities based on race and ethnicity. Efforts to explore underlying causes of health disparities and to describe interventions that have been undertaken to address racial and ethnic health disparities are featured. Promising studies that are ongoing or studies that have longer term data are welcome, as are studies that serve as lessons for best practices in eliminating health disparities. Original research, systematic reviews, and commentaries presenting the state-of-the-art thinking on problems centered on health disparities will be considered for publication. We particularly encourage review articles that generate innovative and testable ideas, and constructive discussions and/or critiques of health disparities.Because the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities receives a large number of submissions, about 30% of submissions to the Journal are sent out for full peer review.