Q & A: How Does COVID-19 Highlight Health Disparities?

Milken Institute SPH researcher Wendy Ellis discussed how the coronavirus pandemic impacts people differently along race and poverty lines.

About one third of people hospitalized from COVID-19 in March were African American, according to recent data from the Centers from Disease Control, despite making up only 18 percent of the population in the U.S. areas studied.

While the available data offers only a glimpse at the developing situation, the apparent racial and economic disparities are significant. Wendy Ellis, Dr.P.H. ’19, director of the Building Community Resilience Collaborative and Networks at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, has designed and implemented a strategic approach aimed at understanding and addressing these disparities.

The disparities that the COVID-19 pandemic have brought to light are not a result of the virus but a reflection of systemic issues in the United States, Dr. Ellis said. She spoke with GW Today to explain how these health disparities have come to light:

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