Awakening: The Unveiling of Historically Unaddressed Social Inequities During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States

Authors

Michele P. Andrasik, Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division, Fred Hutchinson, 1100 Eastlake Avenue, E3-300, Seattle, WA 98109, USA. Electronic address: mandrasik@fredhutch.org.
Alika K. Maunakea, Department of Anatomy, Biochemistry, and Physiology, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii, 651 Ilalo Street, BSB-222K, Honolulu, HI 96813, USA.
Linda Oseso, Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division, Fred Hutchinson, 1100 Eastlake Avenue, E3-300, Seattle, WA 98109, USA.
Carlos E. Rodriguez-Diaz, Department of Prevention and Community Health, Milken Institute School of Public Health, The George Washington University, 950 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20052, USA.
Stephaun Wallace, Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division, Fred Hutchinson, 1100 Eastlake Avenue, E3-300, Seattle, WA 98109, USA.
Karina Walters, Indigenous Wellness Research Institute, University of Washington, 4101 15th Avenue NE Box 354900, Seattle, WA 98105, USA.
Michi Yukawa, Division of Geriatrics, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94121, USA; Geriatric Palliative and Extended Care, San Francisco VA Medical Center, 490 Illinois Street, Floor 8, UCSF BOX 1265, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

6-1-2022

Journal

Infectious disease clinics of North America

Volume

36

Issue

2

DOI

10.1016/j.idc.2022.01.009

Keywords

COVID-19; Disparities; Ethnicity; Inequities; LGBTQ; Race

Abstract

The violence and victimization brought by colonization and slavery and justified for over a century by race-based science have resulted in enduring inequities for black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) across the United States. This is particularly true if BIPOC individuals have other intersecting devalued identities. We highlight how such longstanding inequities paved the way for the disproportionate burdens of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) among the BIPOC populations across the country and provide recommendations on how to improve COVID-19 mitigation strategies with the goal of eliminating disparities.

APA Citation

Andrasik, Michele P.; Maunakea, Alika K.; Oseso, Linda; Rodriguez-Diaz, Carlos E.; Wallace, Stephaun; Walters, Karina; and Yukawa, Michi, "Awakening: The Unveiling of Historically Unaddressed Social Inequities During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States" (2022). GW Authored Works. Paper 1190.
https://hsrc.himmelfarb.gwu.edu/gwhpubs/1190

Department

Prevention and Community Health