COVID‐19 and Underinvestment in the Health of the US Population
Nason Maani, Sandro Galea
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has emerged as the public health challenge of our time, with more than 2 million confirmed cases worldwide.1At the time of writing, based on the current rate of increase in the number of cases and daily deaths, the United States is the nation with the highest numbers of cases and deaths due to the global pandemic.1,2While uncertainty remains about the eventual scale of health harms and societal impact, it seems clear that the United States has proven particularly susceptible to the spread of COVID-19 and the costs associated with containing it.Well over 500,000 confirmed cases have been reported in the United States to date, with over 30,000 deaths.1While there currently are little data by race or ethnicity being reported publicly by state health departments, available data suggest that COVID-19 deaths may reflect longstanding racial inequities.For example, African-Americans account for more than 70% of the 652 deaths reported in Louisiana at the time of this writing, despite comprising around 30% of the population.3Preliminary data from the CDC on hospitalized confirmed COVID-19 cases, while still limited, suggest this may be part of a broader pattern.4Cases and deaths are being reported predominantly in urban centers, such as New York City, which alone accounts for almost one-third of all US deaths.1As the pandemic continues to spread across the United States, and in particular through populations with higher proportions of individuals at high risk of COVID-19 and with lower access to health care, reports of severe disease and death are likely to rise further.