COVID-19 testing and variants more prevalent in minority communities
· News-Medical"Racial and ethnic differences in COVID-19 positivity can be attributed to several factors, many of which are rooted or stem from systemic racism," said Harris.
Daniel Harris, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology, University of DelawareRacial differences in housing, density, job type, accessibility of healthcare services, and medical trust and mistrust contribute to COVID-19 inequities."
The study's authors did not measure whether individuals seeking testing were vaccinated against COVID-19.
"When members of marginalized communities get infected with novel variants of a virus, they bear the brunt of any potential differences in morbidity and mortality that result from the virus changing over time," said Harris. "If a new variant is more severe or transmissible, they are the first to experience it."
Walgreens and other pharmacies served as key players during the pandemic response to increase access to testing among vulnerable populations. That showed in the test results.
"The proportion of tests that were done roughly matched U.S. demographic statistics among Black, white, and Hispanic people, which gives us insight that those programs successfully accessed those populations."
Harris hopes to see more academic-private partnerships like this in the interest of public health.
However, research like this demonstrates that these types of analyses are possible.
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