Inequities During COVID-19.

Abstract

* Abbreviation: COVID-19 — : coronavirus disease 2019 The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has created a time of unprecedented isolation, despair, and harm. Although COVID-19 does not intrinsically discriminate on the basis of race, sex, or socioeconomic class, the effects of the pandemic seem to be more deleterious for minorities. According to some preliminary research, the pediatric population has been relatively spared the severe consequences of COVID-19.1 However, underneath the COVID-19 infections, there is a hidden pandemic that affects minority children in direct and indirect ways with potential long-term consequences. At the end of April 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began to systematically collect ethnicity, race, and socioeconomic data at the national level. Although the compiled results are still pending, statewide data have revealed significant inequities in the rates of confirmed cases and mortality. For example, in Massachusetts, an estimated 35% to 40% of Massachusetts General Hospital’s patients with COVID-19 are Hispanic, in comparison with 9% of the patient population before the outbreak.2 Furthermore, the shortage of interpreters also posed additional challenges for communications of treatments and care to minority patients and families with limited English proficiency. Because the rates of COVID-19 among people of color seem to be higher, minority children are presumably even more likely to be exposed to infection from their parents and guardians. In addition, minority children are more likely to have underlying conditions that may exacerbate the severity of COVID-19 infections; for example, minority children are more likely to have major chronic diseases, such as, asthma and … Address correspondence to Adrian Jacques H. Ambrose, MD, MPH, FAPA, Office for Diversity and Community, Harvard University, 164 Longwood Ave, Second Floor, Boston, MA 02115. E-mail: adrianjacques_ambrose{at}hms.harvard.edu