How does race impact COVID 19?
There are several racial and ethnic minority groups that are disproportionately affected by COVID 19 whether it is clear to the human eye or not. Many don’t realize how a virus could impact their lives directly but when you look at the conditions in which people live, learn, work, play and worship, you begin to see all the ways in which their lives were affected. Inequities correlating to the social determinants of health have and continue to effect different minority groups who live in poverty, have limited access to healthcare, and face health inequity across the board. Even today, we still see people experiencing health inequities whether it is related to their home life and environment, where they work and the conditions in which they work, their education, and their access or lack thereof to any form of health care.
I struggled a lot mentally and physically at the beginning of this pandemic and my family had a lot of the recourses that were needed to move in the right direction and keep our life as close to ‘normal’ as we could. I couldn’t imagine what it was like navigating this pandemic without the essentials needed to simply survive healthily. One crucial thing that stood out to me was access to healthcare. We have read a lot in our Medical Sociology class about how access to healthcare or lack thereof impacts people of color and the ways in which they can go about their lives. In one of the articles, it talks specifically about how doctors and physicians use judgments based off physical features and background history as a shortcut within their healthcare evaluations. Assuming race, family roots or their history automatically puts statistics and assumptions into the back of their minds at which then impacts their level of care given to their patient. Anytime I had to receive a covid test or schedule a doctor’s appointment during this pandemic I never questioned whether I had access to a healthcare facility or insurance to cover the expected bill. People who do not have this privilege, unfortunately most of the time people of color, tend to struggle with poor health conditions leading to chronic illnesses or even higher death rates. Without insurance medical bills become paralyzing and begin to form a barrier between the patient and the help they may need. People without healthcare or insurance who contracted the COVID 19 virus often only have access to home remedies since hospitals are already full and will not even consider people without insurance or healthcare access.
Going off access to health care is the foundation to one’s life, socioeconomic status or your zip code. This tends to be the constant variable in one’s family history that allows everything else to build off. From articles we have read in class, most often, it is people of color who struggle with low socioeconomic status. Low socioeconomic status usually leads to a poor living environment that reside in a food dessert. Living within a food dessert then leads to malnutrition which trickles down to poor overall health. My family, who has a grocery store within five miles of our house faced struggles of food and hygiene shortages during the COVID 19 pandemic, so I couldn’t imagine what it was like for others who struggle with this on a usual basis. Living in a low socioeconomic community is most of the time tied with health risks from a deficient outside environment whether that is exposure to pollutants, or even neighborhoods that are too cluttered and crowded. This pandemic encouraged people to stay home, get fresh air, and socially distance from others. These tasks become very difficult to hold true to when the air quality outside of your home is substandard and the walkways or outside activities are already full of people from your community. Low socioeconomic status also leads to inadequate access to healthcare, access to PPE or other supplies to keep you safe. People from these communities tend to wear the same mask or clothes each day without having access to clean them, themselves, or the environment in which they live. Combine this with their poor health and the number of people who begin to get sick or ill will begin to drastically rise. They may also have a variety of generations living in one home so once one person catches COVID or even a common cold, it is easily transmitted to everyone else within the household.
Another way in which COVID has impacted race is through equal and equitable care. We recently read an article that talked about how people of color are less likely to receive pain medication and how they tend to receive a different level of care when approached by medical personnel who may also be someone of color rather than someone who is white. Each day we assume the intellectual abilities, characteristics, and thoughts of someone of color as if they cannot advocate for themselves. At one point we believed that people of color had nerve endings that were less sensitive compared to those who were white therefore giving reasoning to the idea that they do not need the same amount of care as people who are white. To me this is crazy, especially when relating it to our current pandemic. Everyone was impacted, no matter your race, which in turn should lead to us realizing that everyone needed the same necessary care to come out of the pandemic alive and healthy. Obviously, we all have our unique medical history, our race or family roots should nowhere be the deciding factor on what type of care we are receiving. Overall, this pandemic impacted us in more ways than one, especially for people of color, and I hope that this is a turning point for providers within our medical and healthcare systems.
