Are we really all in this together? It is true that until December 2019, no human had encountered the 2019 novel coronavirus, and so none of us was immune. It is also true that political and national boundaries have not halted the spread of this contagion throughout the world. But it is just as true that COVID-19 has washed away any veneer of equal opportunity or equal risk in the population.
The “pre-existing health conditions” that put a person at risk of severe disease and death from COVID-19 are over-represented in communities of color and poor communities as a result of long-term disinvestment and neglect. And now our country’s delayed response to the looming pandemic has resulted in unprecedented and under-resourced demands on our health care system. It has raised the specter of health care providers having to make decisions in real time, at the bedside, of who will receive life-saving treatment and who will not.
These decisions used to be made from a distance by our insurance companies, economic system and legally structured racial residential segregation. Now, they will seem personal and real in a whole new way.
Health equity is assurance of the conditions for optimal health for all people. It is a process, not a magical outcome. As we navigate through the immediate health, economic and social demands of the COVID-19 pandemic, three principles for achieving health equity can provide us with both a moral and practical compass: valuing all individuals and
— source newsweek.com | Camara Phyllis Jones | 04/07/20