Coronavirus Disease Health Care Delivery Impact on African Americans.
Disaster Med Public Health Prep
; 14(6): 756-758, 2020 12.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-603505
ABSTRACT
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has infected over 1.5 million individuals and led to over 91, 000 deaths in the United States (US) alone as of May 20th, 2020. Minority populations, however, continue to be a high-risk population to contract the SARS-CoV-2 infection. While socioeconomic inequality may help to explain why minority ethnic populations are contracting the SARS-CoV-2 in larger proportions, the reason for elevated mortality rates in African Americans is still unknown. African Americans are less likely than whites to utilize high-quality hospitals, ambulatory care services, and regular primary care providers; this is most likely a result of barriers to accessing high quality treatment, as African Americans have substantially higher uninsured rates. However, previous reports have shown that regardless of insurance status, African Americans are more likely to be directed toward lower quality treatment plans compared to their white counterparts, and that physicians carry implicit biases that negatively impact treatment regimens for these minority populations. While income, education, and access to healthcare should be revised in due time, in the short term physicians should do everything possible to learn about implicit biases that may exist in healthcare, as the first step to minimize implicit biases is to recognize that they exist.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
COVID-19
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Country/Region as subject:
North America
Language:
English
Journal:
Disaster Med Public Health Prep
Journal subject:
Public Health
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Dmp.2020.179
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