Please read Dr. Jimenez’s article in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology titled, “Black and Latinx Community Perspectives on COVID-19 Mitigation Behaviors, Testing, and Vaccines.“
As of May 2021, the US has the highest number of cases and deaths in the world. Within the US, the pandemic is disproportionately affecting Black and Latinx groups. For example, age-adjusted mortality rates for Black and Latinx Americans far exceed those for White Americans. Multiple factors are associated with this inequality, including comorbid conditions that increase susceptibility and disease severity. Disparities in COVID-19 outcomes are also a function of structural and institutional racism. Factors such as residential segregation, wealth inequality, and mass incarceration impact the ability of members from different racial/ethnic and socioeconomic groups to avoid infection and seek care. These factors are the legacy of slavery, Jim Crow laws (state and local laws enacted in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that enforced racial segregation in the southern United States), and discriminatory public health interventions that together are associated with a pervasive sense of distrust of public health authorities. To read the full article.
Black and Latinx Community Perspectives on COVID-19 Mitigation Behaviors, Testing, and Vaccines. Jimenez ME, Rivera-Núñez Z, Crabtree BF, Hill D, Pellerano MB, Devance D, Macenat M, Lima D, Martinez Alcaraz E, Ferrante JM, Barrett ES, Blaser MJ, Panettieri RA Jr, Hudson SV. JAMA Netw Open. 2021 Jul 1;4(7):e2117074. PMID: 34264327 PMCID: PMC8283554 DOI: 1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.17074