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eBook/Digital Version available from:
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Score: 86 |
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| COVID-19 in New York City: An Ecology of Race and Class Oppression |
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ISBN: 978-3030596231,
77 pages,
Soft Cover
ISBN-10: 3030596230 |
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| Copyright: |
2021 |
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| Edition: |
1st |
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| Author: |
Wallace, Deborah; Wallace, Rodrick |
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Specialties:
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Epidemiology
, Public Health |
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| Publisher: |
Springer |
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| Series Title: |
Springer Briefs in Public Health |
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| List Price: |
$59.99 |
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| Google: |
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At A Glance
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This book is the first social epidemiological study of COVID-19 spread in New York City (NYC), the primary epicenter of the United States. New York City spread COVID-19 throughout the United States. The context of epicenter formation determined the rapid, extreme rise of NYC case and mortality rates. Decades of public policies destructive of poor neighborhoods of color heavily determined the spread within the City. Premature mortality rates revealed the weathering of policy-targeted communities: accelerated aging due to chronic stress. COVID attacks the elderly more severely than those under the age of 60. Communities with high proportions of prematurely aged residents proved fertile ground for COVID illness and mortality. The very public policies that created swaths of white wealth across much of Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn destroyed the human diversity needed to ride out crises. the chapters include:Premature Death Rate Geography in New York City: Implications for COVID-19NYC COVID Markers at the ZIP Code LevelProsperos New Castles: COVID Infection and Premature Mortality in the NY Metro RegionPandemic Firefighting vs. Pandemic Fire PreventionConclusion: Scales of Time in Disasters exemplary study in health disparities, COVID-19 in New York City: An Ecology of Race and Class Oppressionis essential reading for social epidemiologists, public health researchers of health disparities, those in public service tasked with addressing these problems, and infectious disease scientists who focus on spread in human populations of new zoonotic diseases. The brief also should appeal to students in these fields, civil rights scholars, science writers, medical anthropologists and sociologists, medical and public health historians, public health economists, and public policy scientists.
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Reviewer:
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Martha Carvour,
MD, PhD
(University of Iowa College of Public Health)
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Range
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Question
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Score
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| 1-10 |
Are the author's objectives met? |
8 |
| 1-10 |
Rate the worthiness of those objectives. |
8 |
| 1-5 |
Is this written at an appropriate level? |
5 |
| 1-5 |
Is there significant duplication? (1=significant, 5=insignificant) |
3 |
| 1-5 |
Are there significant omissions? (1=significant, 5=insignificant) |
3 |
| 1-5 |
Rate the authority of the authors. |
4 |
| 1-5 |
Are there sufficient illustrations? |
5 |
| 1-5 |
Rate the pedagogic value of the illustrations. |
5 |
| 1-5 |
Rate the print quality of the illustrations. |
5 |
| 1-5 |
Are there sufficient references? |
5 |
| 1-5 |
Rate the currency of the references. |
5 |
| 1-5 |
Rate the pertinence of the references. |
5 |
| 1-5 |
Rate the helpfulness of the index. |
4 |
| 1-5 |
If important in this specialty, rate the physical appearance of the book |
N/A |
| 1-10 |
Is this a worthwhile contribution to the field? |
8 |
| 1-10 |
If this is a 2nd or later edition, is this new edition needed? |
N/A |
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Reviewer:
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Martha Carvour,
MD, PhD
(University of Iowa College of Public Health)
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Description
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| The authors describe the intersection of race, class, and geography in the earliest phases of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City. This analysis is superimposed against the backdrop of other infectious diseases, such as HIV and tuberculosis, with which the authors have prior expertise. They present an important discussion of COVID-19 inequities -- both those that are readily discerned from existing epidemiological data and those that may be obscured by data incompleteness or misclassification. |
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Purpose
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| The authors set out to provide urgent historical and contemporary context for the inequitable impacts of COVID-19 in New York City and to provide a basis for public policy discussions intended to mitigate the impacts of this and future infectious disease epidemics in the city. Although this book is necessarily a preliminary review, having been published amid the ongoing pandemic, it poses questions and prompts discussions that are relevant and timely in the field. |
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Audience
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| This book addresses a professional, scientific, and technical audience in public health and its intersecting disciplines. It is well suited to epidemiologists and public health practitioners, and its content may support discussions with experts in regional or city planning or public policy. The authors provide useful context for discussions about COVID-19 and other infectious disease epidemics, although this work is necessarily nonexhaustive and preliminary. Thus, it may best be used in combination with other supplemental resources on overlapping topics. Both authors are well published researchers in related fields. They discuss and build upon their prior work here. |
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Features
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| This is a succinct review of an important set of topics, superimposing the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City on the historical context of other infectious disease epidemics and public health concerns in the city. Maps are used to demonstrate key geospatial patterns and concepts. The book also features a valuable discussion about the limitations of traditional epidemiological modeling -- including infection transmission modeling -- in environments where there are long-standing social or structural inequities. Overall, the book offers a somewhat brief overview, set early in the course of the pandemic. Each chapter provides useful content, although the deliberate connections between chapters are not always clear. |
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Assessment
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| This may be a useful reference for public health scientists, including those applying a health equity focus to their work. Since the authors present a nonexhaustive overview set early in the COVID-19 pandemic, many readers may wish to supplement the book with other references on overlapping topics, including the expanding literature on COVID-19 that may follow the publication of this book. |
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