Counties that have a high level of something called social capital had less severe coronavirus outbreaks in 2020, reports The Washington Post.
That conclusion was reached in research by Christos Makridis and Cary Wu published in the journal PLOS One.
Delaware County did not register high in social capital, according to an index used by the researchers.
Social capital is the interconnectedness and communal trust within a community. Places with high social capital trust their institutions and their neighbors.
They are more likely to help each other in a crisis, like a coronavirus pandemic, the research shows, with more people taking steps to mitigate the virus spread.
The index used by the researchers was developed by the Congressional Joint Economic Committee.
View this introductory video on the social capital project rom U.S. Sen. Mike Lee
It combines data on family structure, parental behaviors, social ties, political engagement, trust in institutions, crime and charitable giving.
That data leads to a social capital rating broken down by county and state.
Among counties nationwide, Delaware County ranks 2,025 out of 2,992, in the lower 33 percentile.
In Pennsylvania, it ranks 57th out of 67 counties.
By comparison, Chester County was first in social capital out of 67 counties in the state and 608 out of 2,992 counties nationally, putting it in the 80th percentile.
Eleven states nationwide scored in the top 20 percent for social capital. Utah ranked as the number one state for high social capital, followed by Minnesota, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Vermont, Colorado, Maine, Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, and North Dakota.
Pennsylvania ranked 24th.
You can find more details and links to the research at The Washington Post.
You can also click here to see more about the social capital project, including interactive maps.
