COVID and Racial Disparities in the USA

[SexyAsianStud]

Tired of hearing right wing asswipes rage about stuff they do not know about or understand.

Let's take advantage of the moment to look at what is going on around us here in the USA and use COVID-19 as a magnifying glass that  highlights the larger pandemic of racial/ethnic disparities in health.  African Americans have shorter life spans and more illness than white persons. Hispanic immigrants initially have a relatively healthy profile but with increasing length of stay in the US, their health tends to decline. A black infant born in the US is more than twice as likely to die before his or her first birthday compared with a white infant. In adulthood, black individuals have higher death rates than white persons for most of the leading causes of death.

Compared with white individuals, African American individuals have higher rates of uninsurance and underinsurance. Segregation of health care also contributes to racial disparities in health care with access to care more limited in communities of color. COVID-19 testing centers are more likely to be in well-off suburbs of predominantly white residents than in low-income neighborhoods that are predominantly black. The advice to obtain testing through a primary care clinician limits access to testing for people who lack one.

Lower-income and minority workers are overrepresented among essential service workers who must work outside the home when shelter-in place-directives are given. Many must travel to work on buses and subways. Segregation also adversely affects health because the concentration of poverty, poor-quality housing, and neighborhood environments leads to elevated exposure to chronic and acute psychosocial (eg, loss of loved ones, unemployment, violence) and environmental stressors, such as air and water pollution.

The striking racial/ethnic disparities reported for COVID-19 infection, testing, and disease burden are a clear reminder that failure to protect the most vulnerable members of society not only harms them but also increases the risk of spread of the virus, with devastating health and economic consequences for all. COVID-19 disparities are not the fault of those who are experiencing them, but rather reflect social policies and systems that create health disparities in good times and inflate them in a crisis. 

Just a thought.