The Annals of the American Thoracic Society have recently released an article that evaluates how the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affects those who have already dealt with health inequities throughout history, specifically black people, indigenous people, and people of color (BIPOC). Titled “COVID-19 Racial/Ethnic Inequities in Acute Care and Critical Illness Survivorship,” this article describes how the Navajo Nation, African Americans, and the Latinx community all face higher rates of COVID-19 and complications, and how they also dealt with inequality in the healthcare field throughout history.

Inequality in Healthcare

Those who live in communities of color often face harsh inequalities when it comes to healthcare, such as lower rates of diagnostic testing and little to no access to specialists. When it comes to COVID, resources are given to communities with higher chances of survival. Considering that communities of color often live with low standards of healthcare, this is simply an unfair system that is susceptible to a lot of bias.

When using the guideline of chance of survival, people can be denied treatment that would save their lives due to a preexisting health condition. Communities of color have higher rates of comorbidities, with chronic kidney disease and diabetes as examples, meaning that they can disproportionately be denied treatment. The authors of the article point out that chance of survival is not an adequate guideline, not only because of the aforementioned reason, but because it does not measure “accomplishments, quality family time, and contributions to society.”

Looking to the Future

There are solutions to this issue. Adding a racial and socioeconomic correction factor to these guidelines and training those performing the assessment to recognize bias would greatly improve these disparities. People in communities of color often fall into a risk cycle when it comes to healthcare, and there needs to be something done to break it.

With the pandemic still happening and the threat of a second wave during flu season, there needs to be change now. The authors firmly state that there should be more research done about this issue, funding should be expanded, and frameworks need to be created to help those who are uninsured.

Find the source article here.