Image from bridgesrc.org

Eva Patel

From football games to in-person classes to family barbeques, the coronavirus pandemic has transformed our social lives.

At the end of March, when the United States had approximately 20,000 cases a day, 44% of Americans said their life had changed in a major way. In 2017, Vivek Murthy, the past U.S. Surgeon General, described loneliness as a major public health issue in the US. A January 2020 report from Cigna also reported that 60% of Americans over 18 felt lonely — the highest level of loneliness in American history. Coronavirus might make the  loneliness epidemic worse. Social distancing — which is proved to slow the spread of coronavirus and help flatten the curve — might also feed into America’s loneliness epidemic. And although loneliness is defined more by a lack of meaningful social connection than simply face-to-face interactions, a 2018 Cigna study shows that those who have daily in-person interactions are 38% more likely to say their overall mental and physical health is good compared to those who never have in-person interactions. 

Older adults are at an increased risk for loneliness, and as the highest at-risk group for coronavirus, they are also more likely to follow stricter social distancing guidelines, contributing to isolation. Loneliness has some concrete health risks, such as premature death, suicide, depression, heart disease, and stroke. Although loneliness is not something strictly defined by DSM-5, it is an increasingly recognized aspect of health. Many mental health experts advocate for the term “physical distancing”. Social distancing implies disconnecting from friends, family, and support networks at a time when these support networks are most needed.  

https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200408-coronavirus-how-lockdown-helps-those-who-fear-the-phone

https://www.cdc.gov/aging/publications/features/lonely-older-adults.html

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/amp/ncna945446 

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/cutting-edge-leadership/202004/unfortunate-allies-the-coronavirus-and-loneliness

https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2020/03/30/most-americans-say-coronavirus-outbreak-has-impacted-their-lives/

https://time.com/5833681/loneliness-covid-19/

Image from ghlf.org

Emily Samson

 When the coronavirus pandemic began, the phrase we’re all in this together was all over social media. The virus was supposed to be “the great equalizer”. It had the potential to infect anyone and everyone. But as more data emerges, we’re learning that not everyone is affected equally.

 In the United States, the coronavirus mortality is 2.3 times higher for Black Americans than White Americans. This is a higher mortality rate than any other racial group living in the United States. While black people make up 13% of the United States population, they represent 25% of all deaths in the pandemic. If Black Americans were dying at the same rate as White Americans, 15,000 more black people would be alive today.

The disparities in outcomes are a result of many systemic issues including decreased access to healthcare, less insurance coverage, and worse living and working conditions. For example, essential workers face a higher risk of infection, and black people are more likely to be in the frontline than any other racial group. Despite this risk, black workers are less likely to be employed in jobs that provide benefits such as paid sick leave, which could protect workers if they get sick. 

Black Americans are also more likely to have underlying health conditions that place them at higher risks for mortality from the virus. Historically, black people have faced more problems with health conditions such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and HIV that increase the risk of mortality from the coronavirus. The systemic issues combined with the risk of comorbidities are factors that lead to the disproportionate number of deaths in the black population. 

The coronavirus epidemic is manifesting extensive health disparities for Black Americans– the racial and socioeconomic inequities in American healthcare– making meaningful systemic changes more pressing.

https://www.apmresearchlab.org/covid/deaths-by-race

https://pnhp.org/news/health-care-system-a-major-factor-in-african-americans-poorer-health/

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/16/black-workers-coronavirus-covid-19

Image from tpr.org

Prachi Shah

In an attempt to contain the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus, communities around the world have taken to drastic societal changes in order to decrease contact between people and therefore decrease the chances of transmitting the virus. 

However, practicing physical distancing (referred to as “social distancing” by many) and other safety measures is harder for some Americans than for others. According to the Bureau of Labor statistics, only roughly 30 percent of the American workforce is able to work from home. The remainder must either physically go to work, increasing the risk of exposing themselves or family members to the virus, or temporarily stop working, giving up much needed wages. For the many Americans who live paycheck-to-paycheck, losing even a few hours a week can mean having to make difficult choices such as choosing between food and utilities, a choice made even more daunting when faced with the uncertainty of a society in the middle of a pandemic. Moreover, those who work in these industries often have reduced access to healthcare and health insurance in the case that they are exposed. Furthermore, they often live in smaller, more crowded living quarters that limit their abilities to adhere to social distancing guidelines, resulting in the virus spreading faster among low-income communities. The ultimate result of these limitations is reflected in the virus disproportionately affecting those in custodial, personal care, healthcare, or other essential work. 

The continued efforts of these workers is integral to the maintenance of a stable society. With many restaurants closed, American families rely on grocery workers, cashiers, delivery service workers, and others to provide services necessary to keep people fed, cared for, and connected. Additionally, many of America’s most at-risk residents, specifically elderly, are dependent on the care of health-aides and other healthcare workers. In this unprecedented time, it is more apparent than ever that many of the jobs that we as a society took for granted are the foundation upon which our society functions every day. 

Despite this, few policymakers are representatives of this community, resulting in their needs often being overlooked when making administrative decisions. Many workers, even after beginning to show symptoms, are compelled to go to work due to a lack of paid sick leave. Others worry that leaving their job, while it may allow them to reduce their family’s exposure to the virus, would leave them helpless if a family member should get sick, since so many Americans get their health coverage through their employer. Many essential businesses have attempted to reduce the impact on workers by hiring more people (often with benefits) in order to minimize the effects of the pandemic. Medicare has vowed to provide free coronavirus testing for symptomatic patients, but that still leaves numerous uninsured/underinsured frontline workers unprotected even as they work each day to keep our communities running.

 As individuals, it seems that there is nothing we can do to combat these large-scale, systemic inequities. However, small actions, such as making the conscious choice to buy groceries not marked with the WIC label (therefore leaving food-stamp eligible groceries on the shelves for those who rely on them to feed their families), making sure to follow all CDC guidelines on physical distancing (to limit the spread of the virus as much as possible), and even just tipping a little extra on your next Uber Eats order can make a world of difference to the people who are making the most difference in our world today. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/03/22/working-home-reveals-another-fault-line-americas-racial-educational-divide/

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/03/15/business/economy/coronavirus-worker-risk.html?auth=login-google

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/04/13/covid-19-jobs-health-insurance/

https://time.com/5800930/how-coronavirus-will-hurt-the-poor/

https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/where-to-look-for-jobs-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic/281-fc46cd5e-d7aa-420c-b895-62200d8b0cd8