Racism

Pathology

Sociology

Disease

Population

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Mathematics

Economic growth

Infectious disease (medical specialty)

Criminology

Pandemic

Politics

Psychiatry

Social inequality

Mathematical analysis

Political science

Socioeconomic status

Health care

Economics

Health equity

Psychological intervention

Inequality

Development economics

Capitalism

Medicine

Environmental health

Health Education & Behavior

Racial capitalism is a fundamental cause of the racial and socioeconomic inequities within the novel coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) in the United States. The overrepresentation of Black death reported in Detroit, Michigan is a case study for this argument. Racism and capitalism mutually construct harmful social conditions that fundamentally shape COVID-19 disease inequities because they (a) shape multiple diseases that interact with COVID-19 to influence poor health outcomes; (b) affect disease outcomes through increasing multiple risk factors for poor, people of color, including racial residential segregation, homelessness, and medical bias; (c) shape access to flexible resources, such as medical knowledge and freedom, which can be used to minimize both risks and the consequences of disease; and (d) replicate historical patterns of inequities within pandemics, despite newer intervening mechanisms thought to ameliorate health consequences. Interventions should address social inequality to achieve health equity across pandemics.

Racial Capitalism: A Fundamental Cause of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic Inequities in the United States