Race Disparities in the COVID-19 Pandemic—Solutions Lie in Policy, Not Biology

Soon after severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was recognized in the United States in early 2020, troubling patterns emerged, revealing that US Black and Hispanic residents were experiencing several-fold greater incidence of infection and increased rates of hospitalization. These data have been widely publicized to great consternation both in and outside the public health and medical arenas. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is another unwelcome addition to the long list of health conditions that disproportionately affect Black and Brown lives in the United States. Because of its rapid spread and severe complications, COVID-19 has quickly crystallized the need to identify root causes of these disparities and to set an agenda for decisive action.