• Tonia Poteat, Gregorio A Millett, LaRon E Nelson, and Chris Beyrer.
• Department of Social Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
• Ann Epidemiol. 2020 Jul 1; 47: 1-3.

AbstractBlack communities in the United States are bearing the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic and the underlying conditions that exacerbate its negative consequences. Syndemic theory provides a useful framework for understanding how such interacting epidemics develop under conditions of health and social disparity. Multiple historical and present-day factors have created the syndemic conditions within which black Americans experience the lethal force of COVID-19. These factors include racism and its manifestations (e.g., chattel slavery, mortgage redlining, political gerrymandering, lack of Medicaid expansion, employment discrimination, and health care provider bias). Improving racial disparities in COVID-19 will require that we implement policies that address structural racism at the root of these disparities.© 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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