• Ian J Lee and Nasar U Ahmed.
• Florida International University, Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Department of Health Promotion & Disease Prevention, Miami, FL, USA.
• J Natl Med Assoc. 2021 Feb 1; 113 (1): 114-117.

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the devastating truth about pervasive health inequity in the United States. As the virus swept through the country, underserved racial and ethnic minority populations disproportionately bore the brunt of the hospitalizations, severe illness, and fatalities. The devastation among these groups far outstripped their privileged counterparts due to convergence of disadvantages that created a perfect storm of exposures. We used empirical evidence incorporated into a theoretical framework analyzing vulnerabilities that have long plagued these communities. These exposures were further exacerbated by the rapid transmission of this virus and impaired the capability of these communities to escape illness and death due to a lack of adequate public health and medical responses. Will the aftermath of this coronavirus prove to be a reckoning for how American society addresses the conditions of most vulnerable populations or another ignored data-point? We suggest some policy steps to address the problem.Copyright © 2020 National Medical Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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