The disproportionate burden of COVID-19 on ethnic minorities

In Episode 8 of Dr. Dave On Call, we discuss the disproportionate burden of COVID-19 on ethnic minorities with Dr. Kiarri Kershaw, Associate Professor of Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine whose speciality is Social Epidemiology.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted a disturbing trend in the COVID-19 mortality rate; African-Americans and other ethnic minorities are dying at a disproportionate rate compared to other ethnic racial groups. This alarming statistic can be better explained using data from Cook County, Chicago, Illinois. African-Americans and other ethnic minorities have considerable challenges in achieving access to health care resources within their communities. Moreover, there is a lack of public funding for specific programs to address access to health care. This contributes to economic and social conditions that predispose African-Americans and other ethnic minority groups to chronic conditions like diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and also infectious diseases like COVID-19. Through our analysis of extensive data, we know that COVID-19 affects patients with chronic conditions more seriously compared to those patients without pre-existing chronic conditions.

African-Americans and other ethnic minority groups are more likely to hold service-sector occupations that are deemed essential-services. Therefore, these individuals cannot work from home and also must utilize public transportation to their jobs and are therefore at greater risk of contracting COVID-19.

When African-Americans and ethnic minorities become sick with COVID-19, many of their occupations do not provide sick/hazard pay without a confirmed diagnosis, which may be difficult to obtain in some circumstances. This places additional financial burden on these individuals to continue to work through their COVID-19 illness. Further, many African-Americans and other ethnic minorities live in large households. Self-isolation after being diagnosed with COVID-19 becomes very difficult as well as the ability to quarantine.

In order to address the disproportionate burden of COVID-19 on ethnic minorities, we must continue to advocate for greater policies to address these health disparities. For example, the City of Chicago, under the guidance of Mayor Lori Lightfoot, has created multiple Response Teams deployed to specific neighborhoods where ethnic minorities are disproportionately affected by COVID-19. The data-informed strategies are designed to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 and improve health outcomes in these specific neighborhoods of high COVID-19 disease burden.

If we can create targeted policies and strategies to address the disproportionate burden of COVID-19 on ethnic minorities, we can help address these health disparities both in the near term and longer term, should another infectious epidemic/pandemic occur in the future.

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