"Some of these disparities exacerbated by the pandemic are evident—rural and low-income communities have less access to the health resources needed to appropriately address COVID-19; unemployment rates for people of color (POC) are incrementally higher than white Americans; and nearly one-third of Black Americans know someone personally who has died of COVID-19, compared to 17 percent of Hispanic Americans and just 9 percent of white Americans.
There are many other disparities, however, that are only coming to light as we stumble towards reopening: with schools closed, many children have lost months of learning opportunities, which some will never regain; family caregivers, mostly women, are being forced to choose between their careers and their children, as the childcare industry is crumbling; and cutbacks in public services, such as transportation, due to lack of demand or funding are disproportionally impacting low-income communities." |