10 Hot Spots for Social Impact of COVID-19

Minnehaha County, SD tops the list of counties with the greatest increase in requests for help from 2-1-1 helplines during the COVID-19 pandemic. Massachusetts, Florida and South Dakota all had at least two counties in the Top Minnehaha County, SD tops the list of counties with the greatest increase in requests for help from 2-1-1 helplines during the COVID-19 pandemic. Massachusetts, Florida and South Dakota all had at least two counties in the Top 10. We examined over half a million requests for assistance with food, rent and mortgage, utility payments, unemployment, and diapers and toilet paper from 1,563 counties received in 2020 by 2-1-1 helplines serving all or parts of 31 states. We compared the daily average number of requests before COVID-19 was declared a pandemic (Jan. 1 – March 11) to after (March 12 – April 14). Requests in Minnehaha County increased 14-fold. Requests in Mecklenberg County, NC, ranked second, increased more than 6-fold. Mouseover each bar in the chart below to see the number of requests. In six of the 10 counties, the rate of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population are 50-300% higher than the U.S. average. In analyses, 2-1-1s with statewide coverage included AL, AR, CT, DE, FL, HI, IA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, NC, NE, NJ, NV, NY, PA, SC, SD, VA, WI and WY. 2-1-1s with partial coverage included CA, IL, IN, KS, KY, OH and TN. Top 10 ranking excluded counties with fewer than 3 requests per day in the pre-COVID period for the categories examined.

Contributors:  Rachel Garg, Balaji Golla, Irum Javed, Matthew Kreuter