The coronavirus doesn’t target its victims by race, yet certain racial and socioeconomic groups have been hit disproportionately hard regardless.
In Boston, a new Health Inequities Task Force aims to address acute disparities in coronavirus-related healthcare services for Boston’s Black, Latino, Asian and immigrant residents.
The task force, announced by the Mayor’s Office on April 9, was convened to provide guidance to the City of Boston on addressing inequities in data analysis, testing sites and healthcare services. The team consists of experts in healthcare, civil rights and other related fields.
Mayor Marty Walsh said in a press release the goal of the task force is to identify and mitigate inequities in Boston’s health care system that have become apparent with the spread of the coronavirus.
“Data is critical to knowing how deep these inequities run and to help the public better understand the virus and its risks,” Walsh said. “By forming the COVID-19 Health Inequities Task Force, we can focus specifically on increasing access to this important data and tackling the inequities that we know exist in our communities.”
The task force will review existing racial and ethnic data, data collection and analysis processes, as well as best practices related to the COVID-19 response in Boston, according to the press release, to determine areas that need improvement and better advise the City’s response.
This project was created in the midst of a pandemic that has impacted noticeably more immigrants and members of certain minority groups than others.
40.3 percent of COVID-19 victims in Boston, for which ethnic data was available, were Black or African American, according to data released by the Mayor’s Office. However, Black or African American residents make up only about 25 percent of the city’s total population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019 estimates.
While racial and ethnic data is not yet available on a national scale, racial disparities in health care remain apparent. According to a Pew Research Study published Tuesday, 27 percent of Blacks or African Americans personally know someone who has been hospitalized or died as a result of the coronavirus, while only 13 percent of white and Hispanic adults reported having the same experience.
Maddie Ribble, director of public policy and campaign strategy at Massachusetts Public Health Association, said he believes that these disproportionate impacts are a symptom of structural racism in American healthcare.
Before the epidemic, people of color and low-income workers suffered worse overall health to begin with, Ribble said. He attributed this to the impact of structural racism in aspects of life such as proximity to air pollution, access to healthy food and employment prospects.
“I think this epidemic is really shining a harsh light on problems that many of us have been talking about and working on for years,” Ribble said. “And those problems are really coming home to roost now.”
Ribble added that while the coronavirus has exacerbated problems in the health care system, those underlying issues will not disappear after the pandemic wanes.
“Everyone in public health, everyone in civil rights, everyone in social justice knew that this vulnerability was there at the outset,” Ribble said. “We can’t solve that right now. But we have to take steps on that after we get over the acute phase of this so that everyone has access to good health as a baseline.”
Ribble said that his organization fully supports the formation of Boston’s Health Inequities Task Force and thinks that it is an important step in aiding Boston’s vulnerable populations.
“We’re thrilled the mayor is doing that,” Ribble said. “It’s vital that city government be focused on the inequitable way that the virus is impacting residents, so having those kinds of leaders at the table to assess the data and plan strategies is a great step by the City.”
