COVID-19 and Equity*

The COVID-19 pandemic is spotlighting the health inequities that already existed in the United States.

We are not going to reach health equity during a pandemic. But we must do all we can to keep disparities from widening and to address the root causes of existing health inequities.

APHA webinars:

From CDC:

Barbershop Medicine — Physicians Italo Brown and Cedric "Jamie" Rutland on:

Why COVID-19 has hit the Black community so hard
Why the Black community is hesitant to get the COVID-19 vaccine (A chat with Anthony Fauci)

African Americans and COVID-19

APHA Executive Director Georges Benjamin, Past President Camara Jones and many APHA members are speaking out about the higher COVID-19 death toll among African Americans and the historical racism contributing to this troubling statistic. A few examples:

Why Some People Get Terribly Sick from COVID-19 (Camara Jones in Scientific American)
Striving for Equity in COVID-19 Testing (Georges Benjamin in the California Health Care Foundation blog)
'A Terrible Price': The Deadly Racial Disparities of COVID-19 in America (Camara Jones in The New York Times Magazine)
Searching for Health Equity in COVID-19 (APHA member Thomas LaVeist on 4WWL)
'These Numbers Take Your Breath Away': Why Black Americans Are Dying from COVID-19 at Alarming Rates (Georges Benjamin in Courier Newsroom)
An Equal-Opportunity Virus in a Nation of Inequity (APHA Public Health Nursing Section leaders in Morning Consult)
Why African Americans are dying at higher rates from COVID-19 (Georges Benjamin in The Daily Monitor)
COVID-19 is disproportionately killing the black community. Here's what experts say can be done about it. (Georges Benjamin in ABC News)
Coronavirus Discriminates. Our Health care Doesn't Have To. (Camara Jones in Newsweek)
Exposing US Racism in a Stark New Way Camara Jones in Democracy Now)
The Interwoven Threads of Inequality and Health (Q&A with Sprit of 1848 Caucus Chair Nancy Krieger in The New Yorker)
Four reasons coronavirus is hitting black communities so hard (Analysis in The Washington Post)

American Indians/Alaska Natives

Coronavirus in Indian Country: Latest Case Counts (a joint effort by by Indian Country Today, the American Indian Studies Center at UCLA, and the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA)
Indian Country, where residents suffer disproportionately from disease, is bracing for coronavirus (The Washington Post) — “ When you look at the health disparities in Indian Country — high rates of diabetes, cancer, heart disease, asthma and then you combine that with the overcrowded housing situation where you have a lot of people in homes with an elder population who may be exposed or carriers — this could be like a wildfire on a reservation and get out of control in a heartbeat,” said Kevin Allis, chief executive of the National Congress of American Indians.
As Coronavirus Cases Rise, Navajo Nation Tries to Get Ahead of Pandemic (NPR) — A good part of Percy Deal's day is spent hauling water for his family and livestock in two 55-gallon barrels. So when he heard on the radio how often and for how long he was supposed to wash his hands to avoid the spread of the coronavirus, he was overwhelmed.

Hispanics/Latinos

Unequal impacts: Q&A with Salud America leader Amelie Ramirez on Hispanics and COVID-19 (The Nation's Health)
APHA leader calls for greater access to COVID-19 resources for Hispanics (APHA news release)
Hispanic, Black children at higher risk of coronavirus-related hospitalization, CDC finds (The Washington Post)
Coronavirus and Latino Health Equity (Salud America)
Latinos' coronavirus deaths at meat processing plant raise alarms about worker safety (NBC News)
ICE tactics to limit spread of COVID-19 in detention centers stir controversy (Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting)

People who are Homeless

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report: Prevalence of COVID-19 in shelters across four cities and COVID-19 impact on the homeless in King County, Washington
COVID-19's Impact on Health of the Unsheltered (APHA infographic)
Hard Lives Made Harder by COVID: Homeless Endure a 'Slow Moving Train Wreck' (Kaiser Health News)
Quick Information: Responding to to COVID-19 Among People Experiencing Unsheltered Homelessness (National Health Care for the Homeless Council)
For the Good of Us All: Addressing the Needs of our Unhoused Neighbors During the COVID-19 Pandemic (Berkeley Public Health)
From the Los Angeles Times: For tens of thousands of people living on L.A.'s streets, masking up is easier said than done. Pulling together even a makeshift mask and keeping it clean has been difficult for many who are homeless, despite efforts to create coverings out of T-shirts, scarves, shoelaces and other odds and ends. But people are finding ways to help: One woman who normally provides hair color, makeup and mobile showers on skid row is now delivering essentials such as face masks, hand sanitizer, vitamins and more. “They need to see a friendly face,” she said. “They need to know they’re not forgotten.”