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- Title
The role of socio-economic disparities in the relative success and persistence of SARS-CoV-2 variants in New York City in early 2021.
- Authors
Vasylyeva, Tetyana I.; Havens, Jennifer L.; Wang, Jade C.; Luoma, Elizabeth; Hassler, Gabriel W.; Amin, Helly; Di Lonardo, Steve; Taki, Faten; Omoregie, Enoma; Hughes, Scott; Wertheim, Joel O.
- Abstract
Socio-economic disparities were associated with disproportionate viral incidence between neighborhoods of New York City (NYC) during the first wave of SARS-CoV-2. We investigated how these disparities affected the co-circulation of SARS-CoV-2 variants during the second wave in NYC. We tested for correlation between the prevalence, in late 2020/early 2021, of Alpha, Iota, Iota with E484K mutation (Iota-E484K), and B.1-like genomes and pre-existing immunity (seropositivity) in NYC neighborhoods. In the context of varying seroprevalence we described socio-economic profiles of neighborhoods and performed migration and lineage persistence analyses using a Bayesian phylogeographical framework. Seropositivity was greater in areas with high poverty and a larger proportion of Black and Hispanic or Latino residents. Seropositivity was positively correlated with the proportion of Iota-E484K and Iota genomes, and negatively correlated with the proportion of Alpha and B.1-like genomes. The proportion of persisting Alpha lineages declined over time in locations with high seroprevalence, whereas the proportion of persisting Iota-E484K lineages remained the same in high seroprevalence areas. During the second wave, the geographic variation of standing immunity, due to disproportionate disease burden during the first wave of SARS-CoV-2 in NYC, allowed for the immune evasive Iota-E484K variant, but not the more transmissible Alpha variant, to circulate in locations with high pre-existing immunity. Author summary: We show that in the beginning of the second SARS-CoV-2 wave in New York City (NYC), preexisting immunity had uneven geographic distribution and was correlated with socio-economic disparities between different parts of the city, likely due to unequal disease burden during the first epidemic wave in early 2020. We analyzed SARS-CoV-2 sequences from different lineages circulating at the time in NYC and showed that immune evasive Iota-E484K variant was disproportionally affecting Black and Hispanic or Latino residents and also those residing in areas with high poverty levels, due to the fact that their higher pre-existing immunity levels made them more susceptible to this variant compared to the variants without immune-evasive properties. Once introduced in those neighborhoods, the immune evasive Iota-E484K variant was also able to "linger" longer compared to the more transmissible Alpha variant. Our findings suggest that socio-economic discrepancies from the early epidemic spread have ripple effects in consecutive epidemic waves.
- Subjects
NEW York (N.Y.); SARS-CoV-2; SEROCONVERSION; SEROPREVALENCE; COVID-19; NEIGHBORHOODS; BAYESIAN analysis; BRAIN waves
- Publication
PLoS Pathogens, 2024, Vol 20, Issue 6, p1
- ISSN
1553-7366
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1371/journal.ppat.1012288