This year, the effects of the coronavirus have significantly impacted (and continue to impact) many lives. However, these effects have not been felt equally by all communities. COVID-19 has been disproportionately affecting communities of color throughout the United States. This can be seen in Columbus in addition to elsewhere throughout the United States, both in rural and urban settings. These communities have been hit on a much more extreme scale, with hospitalization cases being up to 5.3x higher in American Indian or Alaska Native, Non-Hispanic groups. This is due to a variety of factors, including discrimination, minimal access to healthcare, and wealth gaps.
While it is easy to see COVID-19’s widespread impact, its disproportionate effects on communities of color exhibit systemic racism. This issue is systemic because the reasoning behind the disproportionate effects goes further back than COVID-19. Historically, these communities of color have been barred from equal access to healthcare. There are many factors contributing to the inequality faced by these communities. According to the CDC, people from racial and minority groups are more likely to have essential jobs, in which even being at work puts them in close contact with larger groups of people. This, in addition to limited access to healthcare, puts communities of color at greater risk of contracting the virus and not having the resources to potentially recover from it. Another reason detailing how these statistics are an example of systemic racism is clearly explained by the CDC. They include that communities of color are less likely to seek care if sick because of government distrust.
This can correlate to class through the concept and discussion of the Other, when groups are treated differently and sometimes inferiorly by others simply because they are not similar. COVID-19’s unequal impact on communities of color is an example of systemic racism because it involves a variety of factors (healthcare, socioeconomic status, etc.), in which the treatment of these groups of people now seems to be “normal” or unsurprising in today’s society. To right this situation, society must acknowledge this disparity and fight for action or social programs to support these communities. Specifically, the effects of the coronavirus must be documented in order to combat this systemic injustice, in addition to the disease.
The video above, from CBS This Morning in April, highlights the importance of understanding and documenting the racial disparities of COVID-19.
This video from USA Today gives a closer look into the disproportionate effects of COVID-19. It extends the discussion to include the effects on undocumented immigration in the United States, whose statistics are not clear due to fear of being deported. Due to the current administration and the systemic injustices these people have faced, many are scared to seek medical help if contracting COVID-19.
SOURCE: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention | Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
This graph from the CDC explicitly shows the rate ratios of COVID-19 cases, hospitalization, and deaths experienced by different communities. The disproportionality is clear.
Wow great post. I found the USA Today video very interesting and informative. At time stamp 00:30 the narrator talks about undocumented immigrants being afraid to get a COVID test because they fear being deported. Denying a person life saving health care because they are considered an ‘illegal immigrant’ just does not seem right to me. This made me think of Peilan from The Leavers, who struggled to find medical care when she arrived in the United States pregnant with Deming.
Originally, I thought COVID would equalize people of various races, genders, ethnicities, and cultures. Instead the virus has exposed the deep systemic injustice that separates the one from the other; the powerful from the powerless.