Introduction

Early in the pandemic, on-the-ground stories from community partners described a shift in the spread of COVID-19 away from wealthier, predominantly White communities towards non-White, low-income communities. Advancement Project California tracked and measured the growing disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on people of color and low-income communities. After finding strong evidence for the virus’ unequal impact by race, class, and place, Advancement Project California developed an index to help identify the communities most disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 and at great risk of adverse outcomes. We urge our local policymakers to take their response to COVID-19 a step further by using the index to guide interventions and resource allocations, from vaccine distribution to public health investments and supports for students, based on need.

The following compares Advancement Project California’s COVID-19 Priority Places Index for Los Angeles County to the Los Angeles Unified School District’s (LAUSD) Student Equity Need Index 2.0 (SENI). The COVID-19 Priority Places Index ranks cities and communities in Los Angeles County based on increases in COVID-19 case rates and the presence of vulnerable and high-risk populations, defined by race and income. These rankings identify the highest impacted communities that have had high average week-to-week increases in COVID-19 case rates AND a large proportion of vulnerable populations. By comparing our Priority Places Index to the SENI, we see how the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a disproportionate toll on LAUSD students already attending high-need schools.

Los Angeles County COVID-19 Priority Places Index Methods

The LA County COVID-19 Priority Places Index includes the following factors: (1) average weekly percent change in COVID-19 case rate, (2) percent of population living under 200% Federal Poverty Level (FPL), and (3) the average of Black, Latinx, and Native Hawaiian or Pacfic Islander residents as a percent of population. We do not include measures of preexisting health conditions given the limited availability of health data at the neighborhood level. Additionally, while the presence of preexisting health conditions plays an overwhelming role in the severity of COVID-19 illness, there is also substantial evidence that the sheer impact of COVID-19, in terms of cases and deaths, is not equal by race or class.

Places included in the index represent LA County’s countywide statistical areas which are small neighborhood units the county uses to publish its COVID-19 data. We calculate each place’s score on the index by first calculating percentile scores for all three factors, and then double weighting the percentile score for change in COVID-19 case rate and averaging scores across factors to create an overarching index score. We exclude places with populations less than 1,000 individuals. Using the composite index score, we calculate a percentile rank for all 302 Los Angeles County places in our index.

To identify our recommended list of priority places for targeted interventions, we focus on places in the top 20th percentile of the index, which narrows to 61 places. Next, we order these places from highest to lowest population and prioritize the top 30 most populous places. In other words, the top 30 places list represents the most populous places in Los Angeles County within the HIGHEST or top 20th percentile of impact.

For more information about our methodology, please visit our interactive report on RACECOUNTS.org. For information about our COVID-19: Statewide Vulnerability & Recovery Index, please see our interactive site on RACECOUNTS.org.

SENI & COVID-19

For Highest/High Need SENI schools map, toggle the LAUSD Board Districts layer off to view SENI and LAC Index data. Please note that for each SENI school we have included the Board District number. For District 5, we have indicated whether the school is in the northern half of the district (5N) or the southern half (5S) due to the different dynamics in each. Vernon City Elementary and Wilshire Crest Elementary are not included here because those areas do not have LAC COVID-19 Index scores.

LAC COVID-19 Index with Highest/High Need SENI Schools

LAC COVID-19 Index with All SENI Schools

Key Findings

  • 33% of all SENI schools are in the HIGHEST Need COVID-19 Index areas.

  • The percentage of all SENI schools in each COVID-19 Index category increases as COVID-19 need level increases, indicating that LAUSD schools overall are in some of the LAC areas hardest-hit by the pandemic.

  • 54% of HIGHEST SENI Need schools are in the HIGHEST Need COVID-19 Index areas, while only 8% of LOWEST SENI Need schools are in the HIGHEST Need COVID-19 Index areas. In other words, HIGHEST SENI Need schools are more than six times as likely to be in HIGHEST Need COVID-19 Index areas than LOWEST SENI Need schools.

  • 53% of HIGHEST and HIGH Need SENI schools are in the HIGHEST Need COVID-19 Index areas. In other words, HIGHEST and HIGH SENI Need schools are more than six times as likely to be in the HIGHEST Need COVID-19 Index areas than LOWEST SENI Need schools.