Data that will be shared with Roanoke City Council on Monday suggests people in Roanoke City aren’t as healthy as the average Virginian — or for that matter, the average American.
While the metrics below are scary, the margin of error in this report is, too.
Here are some metrics that led to that conclusion, to be presented by Cynthia Morrow from the Roanoke City and Alleghany Health Districts.
On average, in 2021, 20% of Roanokers were reported to be in poor or fair health, in comparison to the 14% Virginia state average. The national average was listed as 14%.
Roanoke also experienced higher than average levels of child mortality, by almost double; infant mortality, frequent mental distress, frequent physical distress, and HIV prevalence.
About 1 in 5 adults in Roanoke smoke tobacco, a rate higher than the surrounding cities and counties, according to 2021 data Morrow will present.
The city also had a high obesity rate in 2021, coming in at 41% compared to the 34% state average.
Data from 2019-2021 shows the leading causes of death under age 75 in the city include: malignant neoplasms, heart disease, accidents, diabetes mellitus, and COVID-19.
On the bright side . . .
Roanoke does show a 98% accessibility to exercise opportunities, where the state average lags behind at 84%, along with the national average.
The error margins listed on this data are relatively high. For the “poor or fair health” stat, where Roanoke was listed as 20% having poor or fair health, the error margin is listed at 17-23% due to a high number of localities being compared, and a wide range of sources is used to collect the data.
Those who are interested in learning about this data can hear more from Morrow on Monday.
Also on the agenda:
Council will also propose a public hearing to amend the Roanoke Charter of 1952, to reflect changes made in election dates and meetings of city council generally, to reflect local elections happening in November instead of May.
The full agenda for Monday’s meetings can be viewed here. The 9 a.m. session and the 2 p.m. session will be held at the Noel C. Taylor Municipal Building, City Council Chamber, Fourth Floor, Room 450. Meetings can be viewed on Facebook here.
