Coronavirus Makes Inequality a Public Health Issue
Bailey Ransom, Policy Punchline Podcast
Bailey Ransom
Coronavirus Exposing Health Inequality.
Coronavirus Disproportionately Killing Black Americans.
The Science of Why Coronavirus Exposes Racism.
Coronavirus Makes Inequality a Public Health Issue.
These are just a few of the headlines I’ve seen in the last few weeks about the coronavirus pandemic in the United States. Those paying attention to who has been most severely affected by Covid-19 in the US know that black people are dying from the virus more than white people in the US. In fact, black Americans are dying at a rate 2.7 times greater than white Americans [1]. These observations are finally leading many journalists and laypeople alike to the conclusion that social policies in the US are unequal at their roots. But for most people of color in the United States, the coronavirus didn’t “expose” this truth, or “make inequality” an issue. For POCs in the US, inequality has been the reality for their entire life, and the lives of their ancestors. Yet much of white America, who can afford to be shocked at current outcomes of the Covid-19 pandemic, is demonstrating a lack of grounding in reality and their privilege in access to social services and protection from the government.
A topic dominating much of the news media as of late is how and when to “reopen the economy.” Much of this discussion over how long Americans should self quarantine, and what actions federal and state governments should be taking at this time, has centred around the idea of a “tradeoff”. On one side of the tradeoff is damage the economy is sustaining by being more-or-less frozen, and on the other side stand the lives that would be lost to Covid-19 if the stay-at-home orders were lifted and hospitals were overwhelmed. What I notice is that the voices participating most publicly in this debate, frequently making statements on television, on social media, in the newspaper, are voices which have the privilege of being disconnected from this “tradeoff.” The existences of the people these public voices belong to will most likely be relatively secure whether they are in quarantine or not. They have a reliable source of income, they have sufficient savings, they have a home in which to isolate, and they have access to healthcare. The people discussing the “tradeoff” are not the ones who will ultimately be most affected by the decision. The Americans with the lowest incomes, disproportionately people of color, will be carrying the weight of the decisions made right now for the rest of the nation without being given power or agency to take part in the public debate influencing the decision making process.
In most states, the only people being asked to work are “essential workers”. This term is inherently racialized, and cannot be used in the unbiased, objective way that politicians seem to think they are using it. “Essential workers” in the United States are disproportionately people of color. 17% of these frontline workers are black, whereas black Americans only make up about 12% of the entire workforce [2]. By requiring that “essential workers” continue with life as normal, whether that includes the dangers of working in close quarters with others, taking public transportation, long hours at minimum wage, potentially exposing loved ones to the virus, and more, the United States is telling these workers that their lives are valued less than the lives of the privileged majority who are working from their comfortable homes.
I also fear that key analysis of pandemic data is being missed. There is a stunning lack of racial data on coronavirus effects. In fact, at this moment, over a month into this state of crisis in the US, only two states have released racial testing data. Only 26 states have released death data by race, and only 34 states have released confirmed cases data by race. This lack of transparency and attention and resources directed towards racial injustice is shocking. Any public health issue in the United States is inherently an issue of race and racism, and yet it appears that many white Americans are acting as if the virus is an equal threat to every demographic group and that everyone is having the same experience. The absence of data means that areas which need immediate assistance and resources aren’t being effectively identified and aided. It also means that a portion of the general public is remaining blissfully ignorant about the inequalities causing black Americans to die at greater rates than white Americans.
While there are some benefits to an “awakening of consciousness” of some sorts for Americans who were previously unaware of the glaring inequality and racism in their country, privileged white Americans should not further distance themselves from the realities of everyday life in the United States by insisting that healthcare inequality was exposed by the coronavirus for the very first time.
References:
https://www.apmresearchlab.org/covid/deaths-by-race
https://cepr.net/a-basic-demographic-profile-of-workers-in-frontline-industries/