COVID-19 in the United States: Social Inequality as Cause and Consequence
Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most severe health crises of the last century. In this manuscript, we summarize the epidemiologic situation of the United States of America (US), with a mixture of personal observations and epidemiological data. We highlight the importance of considering the pre-pandemic health and political situation, where the US showed a worse health status as compared to other Western economies, with an unequal and fragmented health system. We follow with a description of the evolution of the pandemic in the US, starting in New York and other large East Coast cities, followed by a second wave in the South. Last, we highlight two challenges during the pandemic: the worsening of existing health disparities and the political situation of the country, that has polarized epidemic control measures.
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2. OECD. Income inequality. [Internet]. 2020. [Consultado el 22 de Septiembre de 2020].
3. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. World population prospects 2019: Highlights. New York (US): United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs; 2019.
4. Montez JK, Beckfield J, Cooney JK, Grumbach JM, Hayward MD, Koytak SZ, et al. US State Policies, Politics, and Life Expectancy. Milbank Q 2020;98(3):668-99.
5. Knapp EA, Bilal U, Dean LT, Lazo M, Celentano DD. Economic insecurity and deaths of despair in US counties. Am J Epidemiol 2019;188(12):2131-9.
6. Bilal U, Knapp EA, Cooper RS. Swing voting in the 2016 presidential election in counties where midlife mortality has been rising in white non-Hispanic Americans. Soc Sci Med. 2018;197:33-8.
7. Hannah-Jones N, Elliott MN. The 1619 Project. New York Times 2019. [Internet]. [Consultado el 22 de Septiembre de 2020].
8. Rothstein R. The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America. New York: Liveright; 2017.
9. McIntosh K, Moss E, Nunn R, Shambaugh J. Examining the Black-white wealth gap. The Brookings Institution [Internet]; 2020.
10. Faust JS, Lin Z, del Rio C. Comparison of Estimated Excess Deaths in New York City During the COVID-19 and 1918 Influenza Pandemics. JAMA Network Open 2020;3:e2017527-e.
11. Trias-Llimos S, Riffe T, Bilal U. Monitoring life expectancy levels during the COVID-19 pandemic: Example of the unequal impact in Spanish regions. medRxiv [Internet]. 2020:2020.06.03.20120972.
12. MoMo. Sistema de Monitorización de la Mortalidad diaria. [Internet]. 2020. [Consultado el 22 de Septiembre de 2020].
13. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Excess Deaths Associated with COVID-19. [Internet]. 2020. [Consultado el 22 de Septiembre de 2020].
14. Cevik M, Marcus JL, Buckee C, Smith TC. SARS-CoV-2 transmission dynamics should inform policy. CID 2020 ciaa1442. (En prensa).
15. GitHub. Coronavirus (COVID-19) Data in the United States. [Internet]. 2020. [Consultado el 22 de Septiembre de 2020].
16. Wamsley L. Fired Florida Data Scientist Launches A Coronavirus Dashboard Of Her Own. NPR [Internet]. 14 de junio de 2020.
17. Millett GA, Jones AT, Benkeser D, Baral S, Mercer L, Beyrer C, et al. Assessing Differential Impacts of COVID-19 on Black Communities. Ann Epidem 2020; 47: 37-44.
18. APM Research Lab. The color of coronavirus: COVID-19 deaths by race and ethnicity in the US. [Internet]. 2020. [Consultado el 22 de Septiembre de 2020].
19. Rast J. Milwaukee’s Coronavirus Racial Divide: A Report on the Early Stages of COVID-19 Spread in Milwaukee County: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; 2020.
20. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Deaths involving COVID-19 2020. [Internet]. 2020. [Consultado el 22 de Septiembre de 2020].
21. City of Philadelphia. COVID-19 Testing and data. 2020. [Internet]. 2020. [Consultado el 22 de Septiembre de 2020].
22. GitHub. NYC Coronavirus (COVID-19) data. [Internet]. 2020. [Consultado el 22 de Septiembre de 2020].
23. Chicago Data Portal. COVID-19 Cases, Tests, and Deaths by ZIP Code. [Internet]. 2020. (Consultado el 22 de Septiembre de 2020).
24. Flanagan BE, Hallisey EJ, Adams E, Lavery A. Measuring Community Vulnerability to Natural and Anthropogenic Hazards: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Social Vulnerability Index. J Environ Health 2018;80(10):34-6.
25. Bilal U, Barber S, Diez-Roux AV. Spatial Inequities in COVID-19 outcomes in Three US Cities. medRxiv. 2020:2020.05.01.20087833.
26. Rader B, Astley CM, Sy KTL, Sewalk K, Hswen Y, Brownstein JS, et al. Geographic access to United States SARS-CoV-2 testing sites highlights healthcare disparities and may bias transmission estimates. J Travel Med 2020;taaa076. (En prensa).
27. City of Philadelphia. Ciudad ofrece actualización sobre el COVID-19 para el 18 de septiembre de 2020. [Internet]. 2020. [Consultado el 22 de Septiembre de 2020].
28. Dean A, Venkataramani A, Kimmel S. Mortality Rates From COVID-19 Are Lower In Unionized Nursing Homes: Study examines mortality rates in New York nursing homes. Health Aff 2020; 39:11.
29. Avril T. As CDC reverses itself on COVID-19, Americans are losing trust, warn public-health veterans. The Philadelphia Inquirer. [Internet]. 22 de septiembre de 2020. [Consultado el 22 de Septiembre de 2020].
30. KFF. Health Insurance Coverage of the Total Population. [Internet]. 2018. [Consultado el 22 de Septiembre de 2020].
31. Dave DM, Friedson AI, McNichols D, Sabia JJ. The Contagion Externality of a Superspreading Event: The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally and COVID-19: National Bureau of Economic Research;. Report No.: 0898-2937. IZA - Institute of Labor Economics [Intenet] septiembre de 2020
Bilal, U. (2021). COVID-19 in the United States: Social Inequality as Cause and Consequence. Journal of Medicine and Movies, 16(e), 105–117. https://doi.org/10.14201/rmc202016e105117
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