The Structural and Social Determinants of the Racial/Ethnic Disparities in the U.S. COVID-19 Pandemic. What’s Our Role?

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bime C ; Celedón JC ; Lovinsky-Desir S ; Thakur N ; Wisnivesky JP ; Bime C ; Celedón JC ; Lovinsky-Desir S ; Thakur N ; Wisnivesky JP
• Description:
  The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has crippled the United States, halting normal social and economic activities and overstretching the health system. As of June 12, 2020, the United States had over 2 million cases and 113,900 deaths. For historically disadvantaged populations, who experience fractured access to health care under standard conditions and who are more dependent on low-wage or hourly paid employment, the pandemic has had a disproportionate impact. Reports from state and city health departments have illuminated what many already knew: Black, Latinx, and Native Americans test positive for and die of COVID-19 at higher proportion than other racial and ethnic groups (Figure 1). In part as a consequence of the increased prevalence of COVID-19 in minority populations, the mortality rates among Black, Latinx, and Native Americans far exceeds the proportion of the population that these groups represent. ... As stated by Franklin D. Roosevelt, "it isn't sufficient just to want-you've got to ask yourself what you are going to do to get the things you want." Critical care and pulmonary specialists play a major role in facing and overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic, an event of truly historic proportions. As such, we are in a unique position to advocate for underrepresented minority patients, who are becoming critically ill and dying at disproportionate rates. In so doing, we should take active measures in our own delivery of health care and support actions and policies that improve access to information and care, while reducing exposure risk in vulnerable populations. Targeted policy interventions that protect high-risk racial and ethnic minority groups should reduce both ongoing health disparities in COVID-19 and long-standing disparities in respiratory health. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Communicable Diseases Healthcare Disparities Minority Health Mortality Occupational Health Race Factors Respiratory System Safety
• Keywords:
  Coronavirus COVID-19 Health Care Health Disparities Infectious Diseases Minority Health Mortality Rates Racial Factors Respiratory Health
• ISSN:
  1073-449X
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article ; Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Arizona ; California ; New York ; OSHA Region 2 ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 9 ; Pennsylvania
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health ; Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America ; North America
• Volume:
  202
• Issue:
  7
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20061531
• Citation:
  Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2020 Oct; 202(7):943-949
• Contact Point Address:
  Neeta Thakur, M.D., M.P.H., Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, 500 Parnassus Avenue, Box 0841, San Francisco, CA 94143
• Email:
  neeta.thakur@ucsf.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2021
• Performing Organization:
  Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20160901
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine
• End Date:
  20210831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:51bd5165943986c2e1c39b4e7c34d1372f12c472284852dcb1be6956f0c00f0c41c7f17824dad925ba4147ac25fe57ca74dc13967b37e519845d6718902239a0
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/225042/cdc_225042_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 773.57 KB ]