Existing data shows that New York City, the hardest hit city in the U.S., has had more Latinos per capita fall victim to the pandemic than any other ethnicity. While Latinos are 29% of the city’s population, about 34% of COVID-19 deaths in NYC are made up of Latinos. Furthermore, black people make up 22% of NYC’s population and make up 28% of COVID-19 deaths in the city.  

Saint Louis University

Structural discrimination is evident in residential inequity between black and white populations in the United States. Black people are more likely to live in high-poverty areas than any other Americans. Living in high-poverty neighborhoods usually means low quality and underfunded school districts, high crime levels, poor air quality, and limited access to healthcare and jobs. It may be difficult to follow public health recommendations, such as social isolation and quarantine, while living in a congested, impoverished neighborhood. It is also difficult to work from home because black people and other minorities are more likely to have jobs that are not possible to do from home. 

Structural discrimination and its relation to disparate outcomes in the COVID-19 pandemic

Singu S, Acharya A, Challagundla K and Byrareddy SN. (2020). Impact of
Social Determinants of Health on the Emerging COVID-19 Pandemic in the
United States. Frontiers in Public Health 8:406.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2020.00406
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7385373/

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