The pandemic amplified long-standing systemic inequities deeply rooted in our society and highlighted how these factors disproportionately affect low-income and Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) communities. For example, data shows that many racial and ethnic minority groups have a higher risk of being hospitalized or dying from COVID-19, despite being a smaller percentage of the overall U.S. population. Contributing factors, such as the lack of access to quality healthcare, shed light on the importance of social determinants or the environments where we work, live, and socialize.
Similar inequalities have surfaced in the workplace during the pandemic. Millions of women left their careers to provide childcare when schools and daycares across the country closed. This has been particularly detrimental for Black women, whose unemployment rate rose to 5.8%, more than women of any other race in the U.S.
