COVID-19 and Racial Disparity
If you think about it, COVID-19 and racial disparities share quite a lot in common. They've both negatively impacted the lives of vast numbers of people, the severity of both are at risk of fading from the public consciousness, and it’s obvious that both have been most expertly handled by America in every possible way during 2020 for the rest of the world to marvel and be inspired by and follow in the footsteps of.
Despite how long you might think you’ve been silently suffering in your room while reading medical blogs written by unpaid students during lockdown, COVID-19 is still very much a big deal. Since my last month’s post up to the day I’m submitting this one, there’s been another 2 million more confirmed cases in the US alone. However, bad as this pandemic has been for us, for some minorities it has been much much worse.
According to the CDC, there’s been an alarming 9% increase in deaths among the white population so far in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this pales in comparison to the devastation this coronavirus had on the US Hispanic population which has seen a whopping 44% increase in deaths so far this year. Concerning the Black population, data from the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center shows that they’re almost three times as likely to become infected with COVID-19 and twice as likely to die from it. This racial inequity has already been published in several leading medical journals. In the New England Journal of Medicine, a study by the Ochsner Health Center for Outcomes and Health Services Research in Louisiana reported over 70% of the patients who died from COVID-19 were Black in a population where Blacks comprised only 31%.
But why is this the case? Are there inherent genetic factors passed among Blacks, Hispanics and Asians that make them more susceptible to the virus? In the above study by Ochsner Health, when other variables associated with mortality were adjusted for, Black race was found to not be independently associated with higher risk. Rather than any inherent biological differences, it’s more to do with how we treat these groups as a society that’s causing this disproportionate outcome. Again, racial disparity can seem a lot like COVID-19: just when you start to think it might not be too bad in America after all - hey hey, turns out it’s actually way way worse.
For example, while race and ethnicity are key determinants of health inequalities in the United States, so is economic status. This will affect one’s living conditions, their access to healthcare services/facilities, and even ability to shop for basic necessities. While some might point to this association and attribute the racial health inequalities as mere correlation without causation, studies have shown that racism is a fundamental driver of economic disparities that causes these health inequalities. It’s a bit like chocolate and your mood: chocolate isn’t what’s directly making you have that warm fuzzy feeling inside - that’s from a host of hormonal and neuronal signaling going on in your body. But if chocolate is what’s causing those, it’s all the same as far as your mood is concerned, no?
Even from as far back as 1995, the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan had published a comprehensive review of predating studies considering the impact of major social structures such as migration, childhood, and racism on inequalities in health. There was no COVID-19 in 1995, but now that we find ourselves in the middle of a devastating pandemic, the disadvantaged population of America are facing the consequences of systematically discriminatory practices in our history.
Talking about these racial disparities will not make them go away; this is a complicated issue with no easy solution. However by recognizing these injustices, we can at least start to ask the question: what can we do? If we can’t even do that, then what hope do we have of living together in a nation where all persons are created equal and endowed with the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?
References:
