Key TakeawaysThe majority of recorded COVID-19 deaths in the United States so far have been of BIPOC people.Several recent studies have attempted to explain the disparity.The studies all separately found that social and environmental factors alone act as determinants of COVID-19 infection risk; race does not play a role.Since BIPOC people, especially Black and Latinx people, are more likely to live and work in high-exposure areas, they are in greater danger of contracting the virus.

Key Takeaways

The majority of recorded COVID-19 deaths in the United States so far have been of BIPOC people.Several recent studies have attempted to explain the disparity.The studies all separately found that social and environmental factors alone act as determinants of COVID-19 infection risk; race does not play a role.Since BIPOC people, especially Black and Latinx people, are more likely to live and work in high-exposure areas, they are in greater danger of contracting the virus.

Four recent studies are exploring why BIPOC individuals are dying from COVID-19 at the highest rates. And all four independently concluded that the racial disparity most likely has a root cause: social inequities of housing, employment, transportation, and access to health care. The studies were published in the journalsJAMA Network Open,PLOS Medicine,Clinical Infectious Diseases, andThe New England Journal of Medicine, respectively.

Their results were “statistically significant,” meaning that they are not likely to be the product of chance,Jessica Cerdeña, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation health policy research scholar and author of a recent viewpoint on the presence of racial bias in medicine, tells Verywell.

How Has the Pandemic Affected Minority Groups?

The pandemic’s disproportionate impact on BIPOC communities has been well-documented. Of the 300,000-plus people who have died from COVID-19 in the United States so farmore than half were Black, Latinx, and Indigenous.People who identify as Black, for example, currently account for 18% of pandemic deathsdespite constituting only 13.4% of the national population.

Despite the publicity it has received, however, the disparity persists. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) statistics on COVID-19 infections and deaths:

Asian and Asian American people are also at higher risk, although to a lesser degree.

However,Ron Garcia, PhD, former director of the Center of Excellence for Diversity in Medical Education at the Stanford University School of Medicine, cautions against the tendency—prevalent in science, medicine and health care—to lump diverse groups of people together based on the fact that they share a single racial or ethnic characteristic.

“I feel the labels of ‘Black’ and ‘Latinx’ are so global that [it] is difficult to render a meaningful interpretation when used in these kinds of studies," he tells Verywell. “For example, the term ‘Latinx’ to describe a sample in Los Angeles, Miami, or New York would reference very different groups, but readers would not know. The same concern is true for the use of ‘Asian’ in the literature. These groups vary so much in native as opposed to foreign-born [populations] as well.”

What This Means For You:If you live or work in a crowded environment, you have a significantly higher likelihood of contracting COVID-19. If you live in a larger household, consider wearing a mask when in close contact with others in your home. When you can, try to social distance as much as possible in the workplace, and social settings.

What This Means For You:

If you live or work in a crowded environment, you have a significantly higher likelihood of contracting COVID-19. If you live in a larger household, consider wearing a mask when in close contact with others in your home. When you can, try to social distance as much as possible in the workplace, and social settings.

The Studies And Their Results

The studies, which were profiled inThe New York Timeson December 9, each involved an analysis of data on patients in certain hospitals, health systems, cities, and states.

Without exception, the studies found that race alone did not appear to influence COVID-19 infection and mortality risk.

In fact,Gbenga Ogedegbe, MD, MPH, the lead author of the first study, told theTimesthat Black patients who had been hospitalized for COVID-19 were actually slightly less likely than White patients who had been hospitalized to die.

“We hear this all the time—‘Blacks are more susceptible,’” Ogedegbe said. “It is all about the exposure. It is all about where people live. It has nothing to do with genes.”

Black, Latinx, and Indigenous Americans are more likely to contract the virus because of their living and working conditions—not the color of their skin or their cultural heritage.

How Should the Federal Government Respond?

However, the calls themselves have invited backlash from those who argue that BIPOC people should not be made to serve as medical guinea pigs.

According to Cerdeña, “conditions like homelessness and incarceration often intersect with race due to historical and structural racism, but race alone should not dictate vaccination priority.” Instead, she believes that the most structurally vulnerable among us—including “those who work high-contact jobs, or who are homeless, incarcerated, or undocumented”—should receive the vaccine first.

Her reasoning hinges on the fact that the structurally vulnerable are more likely to become sick as well as less likely to have access to public or private health services.

“These individuals face an increased risk of contracting the virus and passing it to others due to limited resources to contain its spread,” she says. “Oftentimes, these communities fall at the end of the line for public health interventions, if they receive any consideration.”

The CDC does not take race into consideration when developing a vaccination plan. Phase 1a of the plan, which was made public on December 1, includes healthcare personnel and people living and working in long-term care facilities.

How Will the COVID-19 Vaccine Be Distributed?

The information in this article is current as of the date listed, which means newer information may be available when you read this. For the most recent updates on COVID-19, visit ourcoronavirus news page.

13 Sources

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Cerdeña JP, Plaisime MV, Tsai J.From race-based to race-conscious medicine: how anti-racist uprisings call us to act.The Lancet. 396(10257):1125-1128. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(20)32076-6

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.CDC COVID data tracker.

White T.More than half of in-hospital deaths from COVID-19 among Black, Hispanic patients, study finds. Stanford Medicine News Center.

The COVID Tracking Project.The COVID racial data tracker.

United States Census Bureau.QuickFacts.

Ogedegbe G, Ravenell J, Adhikari S, et al.Assessment of racial/ethnic disparities in hospitalization and mortality in patients with COVID-19 in New York City.JAMA Netw Open.2020;3(12):e2026881. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.26881

Ogedegbe G, Ravenell J, Adhikari S, et al.Assessment of racial/ethnic disparities in hospitalization and mortality in patients with COVID-19 in New York City.JAMA Netw Open.3(12):e2026881.

Price-Haywood EG, Burton J, Fort D, Seoane L.Hospitalization and mortality among black patients and white patients with COVID-19.N Engl J Med382:2534-43.. doi:10.1056/NEJMsa2011686

JN Learning.Prioritizing minorities for coronavirus vaccination. American Medical Association (AMA) Education Hub.

Dooling, K.Phased allocation of COVID-19 vaccines.

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