KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Data released by the Kansas City, Missouri, Health Department shows the city's third district is being hit the hardest by the novel coronavirus, with the most COVID-19 cases in the city.
"Often, the urban core is more affected, there’s higher concentration of folks," said Dr. Rex Archer, director of health at the Kansas City, Missouri, Health Department. Also, he said, there is "less health insurance, less access to prevention techniques."
The third district stretches from Independence Avenue to 51st Street and from Troost Avenue to Blue Ridge Boulevard.
According to Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, who represented the district as a councilman before being elected mayor, around 65 percent to 75 percent of its residents are African-American. The unemployment rate within the district is higher than the city's.
Archer said those risk factors "tend to spread the disease much more rapidly through the community."
As of Tuesday morning, the district had 55 COVID-19 cases compared to other districts within the city that had 24 or 25 cases.
"I don't know if I'm surprised," said Alice King, who has grown up in the third district. "Maybe I am, like why?"
In a tweet on Tuesday, the health department said it was "not surprised to find the largest number of confirmed cases in our 3rd District, where we also see a higher percentage of Black/ African American residents with underlying health conditions that make people susceptible to the virus."
Archer agreed, suggesting another contributing factor.
"Under our stay-at-home order, a large percentage (of white males) with college degrees, can work from home," he said. "People of color, particularly, people of color who may only have a high school degree, their ability in their work environment to work at home is very low."
Although the numbers are the highest in the third district, Archer said the virus does not know boundaries. The first district, just north of the river, saw its number of coronavirus cases increase 118 percent.
"The way you stop an outbreak is actually not with illness care," Archer said. "That can make a difference in the number of lives you save, but the size of the outbreak is based on our ability to understand where is it."
