Racial Health Disparities and Black Heterogeneity in COVID-19: A Case Study of Miami Gardens

Study findings offered important insights. Despite greater adoption of protective measures against COVID-19, Black participants reported more engagement in activities that increased risk and a higher rate of infection, particularly among Afro-Caribbean participants, indicating a need to further investigate underlying conditions and root causes (including vaccine hesitancy and refusal) contributing to health disparities. The COVID-19 pandemic is a critical public health concern that has disproportionately affected the Black community in the United States. The purpose of this study was to examine the risk and protective factors faced by residents in the City of Miami Gardens during the COVID-19 pandemic, with emphases on racial health disparities and Black heterogeneity. Using convenience and snowball sampling, quantitative and qualitative data were collected via an anonymous online questionnaire (QuestionPro). Survey links were distributed by email invitations with assistance from city officials to residents of this predominantly Black city in Florida (n = 83). Descriptive statistics and relevant qualitative responses are presented. Furthermore, a machine learning approach was used to select the most critical variables that characterized the two racial groups (Black versus non-Black participants) based on four ML feature selectors.