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Policy Brief

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Policies to help Reduce Implications of Covid-19 on African Americans

Executive Summary

The severity of covid-19 among African Americans were based on the injustices they

faced due to inability to acess quality health care as well as financial burden based on

unemployment caused by the pandemic [1]. Many African Americans live in poorer conditions

than the whites, meaning they have poor acess to health care as well as as employment with

lower income. This resulted in higher implications of the Covid-19 on African Americans. The

enhanced implications of Covid-19 were based conditions entailed financial burden, high rate of

underlying chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart diseases mainly caused by obesity, and

poor quality of health care services.

The policies imposed by the government of the United States were a big relief to the

severe effects of Covid-19 [2]. However, there was need for more emphasis for the minority

group highly impacted by the pandemic. Regarding financial burden faced by African

Americans, the emphasis needs to focus on policies that help the minority group secure high

paying jobs. There also needs to be policies in place to help the minority groups access quality

health care as well as education on healthy living based on diet and health care.

Statement of the Problem

Covid-19 is one of the most infectious disease known to date that is caused by SARS-

CoV-2. It was declared a global pandemic in March 2020. Basically, the onset of Covid-19

affected many people of different race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status. However, the African

Americans in the United States were affected more than other races. This was mainly based on

the fact that many African Americans have financial burden, resulting in inability to access
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quality health care. In addition, they also face psychological trauma as well as poor health

outcome due to the pandemic. Study by scientists found out that were impacted more by Covid-

19 due to their long history with chronic illness as well as obesity. These underlying conditions

of African Americans led to the severe complications and high mortality rates regarding the

pandemic. Obesity experienced by most African Americans is based on their poor health diet

intake, mainly attributed by excessive intake of junk food (fast food and soft drinks) as well as

lack of sufficient physical activity. Studies showed that individuals with obesity were more likely

to be severely affected by Covid-19. In addition, obesity is associated with other chronic illness

such as heart diseases, diabetes, and hypertension. People with these chronic illnesses were

known to be more likely to be affected severely by Covid-19. Results of a study by the Howard

University Hospital in 2020 showed that about 43% of African Americans had heart related

problems.

Another factor that attributed to severity of Covid-19 among African Americans was

attributed by vitamin D deficiency. Studies showed that whites had higher amount of Vitamin D

than African Americans. This results corelate with higher mortality rates among African

Americans than whites.

Mental health of an individual is associated with his or her experience from their friends,

family, or community at large. The impact of Covid-19 impacted psychological trauma among

the African Americans. There was high mortality among African Americans than other race in

the region, the fact that they did not hold decent burials for their loved ones due to restrictions

led to the traumatic effect.

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Covid-19 also impacted the African Americans psychologically due to the high rate of

mortality rate among black communities [3]. The trauma created by lack of proper burials for

people of color who succumbed to the disease had very huge impact on the black community. In

addition, the situation of police brutality against people of color made the situation even more

difficult for African Americans. For instance, the murder of George Floyd during the pandemic

highlighted how African Americans experienced several challenges.

Critique of Current Policies

Some of the public health policies on Coved-19 were essential in improving health

outcomes of the African American population. For instance, the policy signed by President

Biden on March 11, 2021 into law helped invest in the responses based on public health as well

as providing assistance to businesses and community at large regarding unemployment and

decreased level of business. However, there need to be emphasis on the minority groups such as

African Americans who were more impacted by the pandemic.

The issue of financial burden among African Americans was enhanced by the restriction

of citizen of United States to stay at home to help contain the spread of Covid-19. Most African

Americans lost their jobs due to the pandemic leading to surge of mental illness cases. Despite

introduction of laws to prevent Landlords from victim their tenants, people still needed to meet

other bills such as food, electricity, and medical.

Policy Recommendations

According to Thomas (2021), African Americans are three times more likely to die of

covid-19 as compared to whites [2]. This requires the need of intervention in terms of policy
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implementation to help manage this challenge. Some of the public health policies that can be

effective in reducing severity of covid-19 among African Americans include ensuring every

African American has access to quality health care despite their financial status. One of the

strategies of achieving this include provision of cheap health insurance to the minority to help

them access quality health care services. Another solution implementing policy to help reduce

the inequality gap. This entail ensuring the minority group can have access to high paying jobs

so that they can lift up their living standards. In addition, there need to be education programs to

help inform the minority groups on healthy eating habits.

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References

[1] Mude, W., Oguoma, V. M., Nyanhanda, T., Mwanri, L., & Njue, C. (2021). Racial

disparities in COVID-19 pandemic cases, hospitalisations, and deaths: A systematic

review and meta-analysis. Journal of global health, 11, 05015.

https://doi.org/10.7189/jogh.11.05015

[2] Elgin, C., Basbug, G., & Yalaman, A. (2020). Economic policy responses to a pandemic:

Developing the COVID-19 economic stimulus index. Covid Economics, 1(3), 40-53.

[3] Thomas, S. P. (2021). Black mental health matters: Addressing post-COVID mental

health needs of Black Americans. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 42(8), 707-708.