INFO 201 "Foundational Skills for Data Science" — Spring 2022

Authors: Sophia Pham, Tommy Ha, Cherry Chen, Madelyn Wright

Link: Link to your Shiny App here

Introduction

Recently, social vulnerability has been at the forefront in the world of public health. As the global pandemic situation getting repeatably worse, we are motivated to find the reasons why some of the communities were less affected while the overall country was facing the same issue. Knowing the characteristics of these communities allows us to help vulnerable communities improve their population health.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has created the Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) which indicates the relative vulnerability of communities, pulling data from the U.S. Census, in order to help public health officials to identify the communities that will most likely need support before, during, and after a hazardous event. An SVI value takes into account factors such as poverty, access to transportation and housing, as well as income, and consolidates it into a number. The higher the SVI value, the more “at risk” a community may be. Oppositely, the lower the SVI value, the less “at risk” a community is.

Conclusion / Summary Takeaways

By comparing on a state to state basis, we have compared the factors that affect the cumulative value of SVI.

1. The budget and emergency response experience of a county determines its social vulnerability. Experiences are hard to obtain, so the easiest way to help communities to lower their social vulnerability is to provide more fund and indirectly lowers the below poverty rate, unemployment rate and etc.

2. Lastly, comapring counties within a state really opened our eyes to how much administration on a local level changes SVI outcomes and how vulnerable areas may or may not cluster, in short.

3. The most important insight we have taken away is that more households in the United States need support and understanding of their unique setbacks. In other words, the biggest takeaway easily that by providing states and counties at the local level more funding, rates of social vulnerability can be handled.

Our research has the power to bring attention to under-served counties and households. Overall, our research in this field has great implications for resource allocation, government policy, and even the cycle of poverty through the lens of public health. By estimating the needs of a population, public health authorities can be better prepared and at-risk populations can be supplied aid more efficiently. The health and well-being of communities in the United States should be a top priority at local, state, and national levels of governance.