The Virus Is Not the Only Disease: How Public Health Crises Aggravate Structural Inequities and Further Put Minoritized Groups at Risk

Abstract

The objective of this paper was to examine the differential ways minoritized groups and dominant groups are affected by public health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. A variety of academic sources were consulted, such as various peer-reviewed journal articles and published books, to determine the impacts that public health crises have on individuals with minority identities. Additionally, given the current nature of this topic, select news sources were also used to inform the most recent policy updates on the issues discussed. Th paper largely focused on examples within the COVID-19 pandemic, but also drew from the Ebola Outbreak in West Africa and the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The paper investigated three major ways in which minoritized groups are disproportionately impacted by public health crises. First, government response measures frequently suit dominant groups much better than minoritized groups, partially because response measures are typically drafted by members of dominant groups and partially because it is much more difficult to comply with many emergency response measures in the absence of privilege. Furthermore, because minoritized groups are often already in positions of socioeconomic disadvantage compared to dominant groups, times of emergency often exacerbate the pre-existing social conditions that cause inequity. The third way the paper found minoritized groups to be disproportionately affected by public health crises was that tensions towards perceived “at fault” groups and tensions between racialized minorities and authorities become strained. Lastly, the paper found that while education may be a partial solution to these issues, it is not a full solution.