Open AccessCOVID-19 Among African Americans: An Action Plan for Mitigating Disparities
Author(s) -
Monica E. Peek,
Russell A. Simons,
William F. Parker,
David Ansell,
Selwyn O. Rogers,
Brownsyne Tucker Edmonds
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
american journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.284
H-Index - 264
eISSN - 1541-0048
pISSN - 0090-0036
DOI - 10.2105/ajph.2020.305990
Subject(s) - covid-19 , action plan , pandemic , environmental health , coronavirus infections , medicine , action (physics) , geography , virology , outbreak , biology , disease , ecology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , physics , quantum mechanics
As the COVID-19 pandemic has unfolded across the United States, troubling disparities in mortality have emerged between different racial groups, particularly African Americans and Whites. Media reports, a growing body of COVID-19-related literature, and long-standing knowledge of structural racism and its myriad effects on the African American community provide important lenses for understanding and addressing these disparities.However, troubling gaps in knowledge remain, as does a need to act. Using the best available evidence, we present risk- and place-based recommendations for how to effectively address these disparities in the areas of data collection, COVID-19 exposure and testing, health systems collaboration, human capital repurposing, and scarce resource allocation.Our recommendations are supported by an analysis of relevant bioethical principles and public health practices. Additionally, we provide information on the efforts of Chicago, Illinois' mayoral Racial Equity Rapid Response Team to reduce these disparities in a major urban US setting.