A brand-new, interactive map launched by Alameda County shows the geographical spread of COVID-19 cases by zip code.
The new addition to the county’s COVID-19 data dashboard shows a little concentration of cases in one Berkeley postal code, however the general case number is too low to reason about rates of infection throughout the city.
The dataset reveals that 94703– which extends from the Oakland border to Hopkins Street, primarily between Sacramento Street and Martin Luther King Jr.
The 94703 zip code also has the second-largest population of all Berkeley zip codes (20,294 citizens), so the size could contribute to the relative frequency in virus cases.
The data “does not really say much,” stated city spokesman Matthai Chakko. “Our sample size so far is small. You wouldn’t read excessive into this data by itself.”
While Berkeley reports geographical and group data to the county, the city itself has actually not released information on the area of any of its favorable COVID-19 cases. Berkeley generally provides fewer details about its cases than surrounding jurisdictions do.
” We have to protect the personal privacy of private individuals,” Chakko said. “With small numbers, postal code details can be utilized with case counts to recognize individuals.”
The city’s 2018 Health Status Report found big disparities by zip code in lots of health outcomes. Rates of hospitalization for asthma, hypertensive heart disease and stroke are greatest in the southwest Berkeley zip codes of 94710 and 94702, normally followed by94703 Those postal code home Berkeley’s largest black and Latino populations, according to U.S. Census information.
Across the nation, black people are passing away from the coronavirus at much greater rates than other groups too, and in San Francisco, Latinos have been overrepresented in validated virus cases.
” It’s not unexpected that we’re seeing reports of injustice in regards to testing, medical diagnosis and disparities in regards to who will die,” Sandra McCoy, associate professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at UC Berkeley, recently informed Berkeleyside. “We’re essentially layering a pandemic on top of entrenched inequities specified by race and socioeconomic status.”
There “are deep health inequities in Berkeley,” Chakko said.
He stated the city’s Public Health Department is structured to deal with the systemic disparities with programs like Heart 2 Heart– a high blood pressure and heart problem program with LifeLong Treatment– particularly targeted at a small area of South Berkeley.
Berkeley’s coronavirus testing website, likewise a collaboration with LifeLong, has “a particular goal of testing people without access to healthcare,” Chakko stated.
City Councilman Ben Bartlett, who represents a portion of 94703, said he was “regretfully not surprised” to see that the postal code was the first to register in the database.
” People in South Berkeley typically have underlying health conditions, they’re poorer so they do not have the exact same access to excellent food and other wellness regimes,” he said. “They are the shipment drivers and the Uber motorists and the clerks who are working during this while our more affluent neighbors can work from house.”
Bartlett said his workplace has actually been calling constituents, distributing masks and working with churches to connect with congregants and ensure they’re not collecting face to face.
” Its motivating that they’re engaged with us however it’s uncomfortable since it’s safe to assume whatever inequities we had previously will become amplified,” he stated. “The worst part is the post-coronavirus collapse is most likely going to erase the tenuous achievements we have actually made” in health and economic results.
Throughout the rest of Alameda County, numerous zip codes in East Oakland have the greatest rates of infection, according to the dataset.