Improving Health Equity for Black Communities in the Face of Coronavirus Disease-2019.
The impact of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) in the U.S. to date is staggering and Blacks across the country are being infected and dying at rates far in excess of Whites. There are immediate solutions that can help to balance the inequity now and position us well for the future. Five suggested solutions are described which focus on greater inclusion of Blacks in activities such as clinical trials, encouraging community-based resources and providing comprehensive racial data on COVID-19 cases. We are not all in the fight against COVID-19 together. Solutions must be adopted to help to address the current disparities now as well as beyond the immediate crisis.
Conditions for Blacks exacerbate the links to increased exposure and worse outcomes in the face of COVID-19. Many essential workers are Black, and they must continue reporting to work even though it means ongoing contact with the public. Black workers may have to take public transportation to and from work and come home to multigenerational dwellings, making social
distancing in general, and from older and more vulnerable family members, impossible. Black communities, especially those in states without Medicaid expansion, have less access to testing and medical care.
The second recommendation assigns COVID-19 interventions first to front-line healthcare workers designated as physicians and nurses. However, essential staff from critical infrastructure positions who face the same exposure risk, such as transportation, food and sanitation workers, are disproportionately minorities. A third recommendation prioritizes providing scarce resources to people who participate in clinical research of COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics.
Public Health Open J. 2020; 5(2): 38-41. doi: 10.17140/PHOJ-5-146