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The Inequities in the United States During the COVID-19 Pandemic

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The Geographies of COVID-19

Part of the book series: Global Perspectives on Health Geography ((GPHG))

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to significant disruptions in all aspects of societies. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, systemic inequities and implicit biases have become more visible, as many pieces of evidence reveal that the US population is disproportionately harmed physically, socially, emotionally, economically, and educationally. This chapter aims to summarize relevant studies that reveal, analyze, and discuss the long-standing inequity issues in the US that have been emerging during the COVID-19 pandemic from three different perspectives: (1) inequity in COVID-19 testing rates, confirmed cases, and mortality, (2) inequity in stay-at-home compliance and short-/long-term recovery, and (3) inequity in vaccination tendency, vaccine allocation, and vaccination rate. The observed inequities from these three perspectives can be attributed mainly to the disparity of demographics and socioeconomic status of the population. Such a disparity may further widen the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged groups and cause unequal economic and health consequences that disproportionately affect vulnerable groups. By summarizing the analytical approaches, experimental settings, and statistical findings, we provide evidence that unravels the role of demographic and socioeconomic status in observed inequities during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, we discuss the strategies that can be adopted to reduce the inequity induced by future epidemics.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA

    Xiao Huang

  2. The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, Australia

    Siqin Wang

  3. Texas A&M Transportation Institute, Bryan, TX, USA

    Xiao Li

Authors
  1. Xiao Huang
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  2. Siqin Wang
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  3. Xiao Li
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xiao Huang .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA

    Melinda Laituri

  2. Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

    Robert B. Richardson

  3. Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA

    Junghwan Kim

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Huang, X., Wang, S., Li, X. (2022). The Inequities in the United States During the COVID-19 Pandemic. In: Laituri, M., Richardson, R.B., Kim, J. (eds) The Geographies of COVID-19. Global Perspectives on Health Geography. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-11775-6_8

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