The Disproportional Impact of COVID-19 on African Americans

• Published in: Health and human rights Vol. 22; no. 2; pp. 299 - 308
• Main Author: REYES, MARITZA VASQUEZ
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States President and Fellows of Harvard College 01.12.2020; Harvard School of Public Health; Harvard University Press; Harvard FXB Center for Health and Human Rights
• Subjects: African Americans; Age Factors; Comorbidity; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 - ethnology; Food; Health Status Disparities; Home education; Homeless Persons; Human Rights; Humans; Internet; Killing; Minority groups; Pandemics; Prisons - statistics & numerical data; Racism; SARS-CoV-2; Sex Factors; Social Determinants of Health - ethnology; Social groups; Social identity; Society; Socioeconomic Factors; Student; STUDENT ESSAY; United States - epidemiology; Viruses; United States; United States > US
• ISSN: 1079-0969; 2150-4113

We all have been affected by the current COVID-19 pandemic. However, the impact of the pandemic and its consequences are felt differently depending on our status as individuals and as members of society. While some try to adapt to working online, homeschooling their children and ordering food via Instacart, others have no choice but to be exposed to the virus while keeping society functioning. Our different social identities and the social groups we belong to determine our inclusion within society and, by extension, our vulnerability to epidemics. COVID-19 is killing people on a large scale. As of October 10, 2020, more than 7.7 million people across every state in the United States and its four territories had tested positive for COVID-19. According to the New York Times database, at least 213,876 people with the virus have died in the United States.1 However, these alarming numbers give us only half of the picture; a closer look at data by different social identities shows that minorities have been disproportionally affected by the pandemic.