Vulnerable by Design: Where COVID and Racism meet

For BIPOC communities in the United States, there has always been an unbreakable chain of discrimination and inequality – and COVID has only intensified these disparities. COVID has taken the United States, and the rest of the world, by storm. For many blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and indigenous communities, COVID has only brought to light the many ways, systemically and historically, the United States is designed to leave them vulnerable. 

According to the CDC, “American Indian and Alaska Native people were 3.7 times more likely than non-Hispanic white people to be hospitalized and 2.4 times more likely to die from COVID-19 infection. Black or African American people were 2.9 times more likely than non-Hispanic white people to be hospitalized and 1.9 times more likely to die from COVID-19 infection. Hispanic and Latino people were 3.1 times more likely than non-Hispanic white people to be hospitalized and 2.3 times more likely to die from COVID-19 infection” (CDC 2021). This isn’t simply a coincidence – it’s years of systemic racism and inequity coming to light. 

For the lucky, COVID simply meant no longer going into their job and meant working from home. For many BIPOC Americans, this was not an option. Due to disparities in the United States education system, many BIPOC Americans are left out of higher-wage jobs, leading them to be more directly exposed to COVID as they are often left doing essential jobs that cannot simply be shifted to be done online. In addition, people of color often do not have the ability to space out – as many BIPOC populated areas neighborhoods are tightly packed. Not only this – oftentimes these neighborhoods do not have the resources or access to organic, healthy, nutritious foods, leading to pre-existing conditions that make an individual vulnerable to the virus. 

But it’s not just food and jobs – the racial inequalities impact the environment, access to health care, and everything in between for BIPOC Americans. 

Former acting director of the CDC, Richard Besser, stated: “You can’t change the fact that America is so segregated and that people of color tend to live in communities where the environmental conditions are worse, and that can increase your risk of heart or lung disease and diabetes” (Shannahan, 2021). In a study done by the United Church of Christ, more than half of the people who live within 1.86 miles of toxic waste facilities are people of color. Another report by the Center for Effective Government found that people of color are twice as likely as white residents to live within a “fenceline zone of industrial facilities that contribute to air pollution, safety issues and health concerns” (Bell 2016). 

So BIPOC Americans are already more vulnerable to COVID due to a variety of disparities regarding their health before contracting the virus. But there’s more: racism in the United States often leaves these communities without reliable, accessible, and affordable healthcare. 

For many indigenous tribes, Congress has not delivered on its promises to provide healthcare. Found in a report done in 2018 by the US Commission on Civil Rights, the federal government spends “four times as much on healthcare per person through government programs than it spends for each Indigenous person” (Henderson,2020). For Black Americans, getting healthcare facilities to listen to their healthcare concerns is a continuous and fatal phenomena. The COVID death rate for Black Americans is 166 per 100,000 people, compared to 116 Whites. These numbers are not just coincidences. It is racism – quantified. 

It is impossible to look at COVID solutions and data in the United States and not recognize the various social, economic, historical, and environmental ways that leave BIPOC communities in the United States more prone to pre-existing conditions and inadequate healthcare, making them practically defenseless to the spread and impacts of COVID. The system is not designed to help or protect them – it is designed to leave these communities vulnerable. To address the public health threat that COVID brings, we must simultaneously acknowledge one of the US’s largest and oldest public health threats – racism. 

Sources: 

https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/nation/2020/10/12/covid-racism-kills-black-americans-living-near-toxic-plants/3498180001/ 

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/covidview/index.html 

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/news/2016/04/25/136361/5-things-to-know-about-communities-of-color-and-environmental-justice/

https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/toxic-wastes-and-race-at-twenty-1987-2007.pdf

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/feb/22/black-americans-covid-19-racism-us-healthcare 

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