Reopening the United States: Black and Hispanic Workers Are Essential and Expendable Again

Abstract

[ ]in jobs such as psychiatric aid, nursing assistant, and orderly, Blacks make up more than twice their relative proportion of the broader US population (i e , 13%) Because it is difficult for these jobs to be performed remotely, racial minorities have shouldered more than their share of essential labor during the COVID-19 pandemic, and their communities have been disparately endangered as a result [ ]as governors across the nation announce plans to reopen certain industries in a stepwise fashion, they do so with the knowledge that this will exacerbate COVID-19's devastation of communities of color There is much uncertainty about what will occur in the coming weeks and months as the economy tiptoes forward, and more time is needed to definitively demonstrate whether a rise in infections has occurred among Blacks and Hispanics during reopening Because of the disproportionate representation of Black and Hispanic workers in both essential industries and the first wave of reopening industries, they will disproportionately be the subjects in an experiment administered by the state