Covid-19 infection rates found to be 33% higher in more deprived areas

Deprived areas had Covid-19 rates that were a third higher than more affluent areas during the pandemic, according to new research.

The differences between richer and poorer areas was greater, even after congregated settings such as the presence of nursing homes were taken into account.

Areas with a high number of people from an ethnic minority background and from a Traveller background also showed elevated levels of Covid-19.

The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) study, carried out in conjunction with Pobal, also found that areas in the Border counties of Donegal, Leitrim, Cavan, Monaghan and Louth had higher rates of infection.

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This, the report concluded, was the result of people there living in proximity to Northern Ireland, where infection rates were higher.

Covid-19 figures from electoral districts (EDs) show that those with communal establishments such as nursing homes and direct provision centres, along with those with higher shares of some racial and ethnic minority groups, all had higher rates of ICU admission.

In the most deprived areas of the country, infection rates at 5.6 per cent of the population were more than 50 per cent higher than in the most affluent areas where the figure was 3.7 per cent. The research examined almost 300,000 Covid-19 infections from March 2020 to April 2021.

Report author Dr Anne Devlin said there were “important lessons to be learned” from the disparity in cases between affluent and deprived areas. “There are numerous important implications for policymakers in terms of planning for potential future pandemics or other widespread health shocks,” she said.

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