During 2020, as waves of infections swept across the country, loss of life among racial and ethnic minorities were disproportionately large. The pandemic has revealed inequities in health care for communities of color and amplified social and economic factors that contribute to poor health outcomes. Because NBCDI believes solutions are the foundations of change, we offer recommendations to address the COVID-19 pandemic’s disproportionate effects and to offset its devastating impacts on the Black community.
NBCDI’s Policy Brief details how the COVID-19 pandemic has amplified racial health disparities within our country. Its disproportionate impact on Black families has been felt across all regions of the United States. One year after the virus exploded in the United States, the disease continues to ravage African American and other minority communities with a particular vengeance. For Black, Asian, Native American, and Hispanic patients, the infection proves fatal far more frequently than for White patients, even as death rates have plummeted for all races and age groups.