Social distancing in Black and white neighborhoods in Detroit: A data-driven look at vulnerable communities

By Makada Henry-Nickie, John Hudak

As COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc on Americans’ health and the nation’s economy, its effects are disproportionately felt in Black America. In America’s densely populated cities, in suburbs, and elsewhere, the number of cases and deaths among Blacks far outstrips their share of the population overall. One of those cities is Detroit. We use new mobile device tracking data to examine social distancing and how it impacts infection rates in that city, to better understand the virus’s disproportionate impact on Black America.

There is evidence that social distancing measures can decisively flatten the epidemic curve