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COVID-19 Pandemic, Unemployment, and Civil UnrestUnderlying Deep Racial and Socioeconomic Divides

Educational Objective
To understand how COVID-19 is highlighting the racial and socioeconomic divides within the United States
1 Credit CME

More than 110 000 people have died in the US because of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, a pathogen that was unknown just 6 months ago. Ubiquitous fear and anxiety that accompanied the emergence of the new coronavirus led to widespread limits on physical contact in attempts to mitigate the spread of the virus. That in turn brought the US economy to a halt, resulting in more than 40 million people filing for unemployment, approximating numbers not seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s. In the past month, the killing of several unarmed black men and women—Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd— has spurred widespread civil unrest, with night after night of demonstrations demanding reform of systems of policing that have disproportionately harmed black people for centuries.

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Article Information

Corresponding Author: Sandro Galea, MD, DrPH, School of Public Health, Boston University, 715 Albany St, Boston, MA 02118 (sgalea@bu.edu).

Published Online: June 12, 2020. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.11132

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: Dr Galea reported receiving consulting fees from Sharecare and Tivity Health. No other disclosures were reported.

References
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Perry  MJ . Explaining US income inequality by household demographics, 2018 update. American Enterprise Institute blog. September 11, 2019. Accessed January 15, 2020. https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/explaining-us-income-inequality-by-household-demographics-2018-update/
2.
Gramlich  J. The gap between number of blacks and whites in prison narrows. FactTank. April 30, 2019. Accessed June 6, 2020. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/30/shrinking-gap-between-number-of-blacks-and-whites-in-prison/
3.
 The Growing Gap in Life Expectancy by Income: Implications for Federal Programs and Policy Responses. National Academies Press; 2015. doi:10.17226/19015
4.
Mariotto  AB , Zou  Z , Johnson  CJ , Scoppa  S , Weir  HK , Huang  B .  Geographical, racial and socio-economic variation in life expectancy in the US and their impact on cancer relative survival.   PLoS One. 2018;13(7):e0201034. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0201034PubMedGoogle Scholar
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Kothari  CL , Paul  R , Dormitorio  B ,  et al.  The interplay of race, socioeconomic status and neighborhood residence upon birth outcomes in a high black infant mortality community.   SSM Popul Health. 2016;2:859-867. doi:10.1016/j.ssmph.2016.09.011PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref
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Kamal  R. How does U.S. life expectancy compare to other countries? Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker website. Accessed June 6, 2020. https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/u-s-life-expectancy-compare-countries/#item-le_life-expectancy-at-birth-in-years-2017_dec-2019-update
7.
Wadhera  RK , Wadhera  P , Gaba  P ,  et al.  Variation in COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths across New York City boroughs.   JAMA. 2020;323(21):2192-2195. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.7197PubMedGoogle ScholarCrossref
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Spievack  N , Gonzalez  J , Brown  S . Latinx unemployment is highest of all racial and ethnic groups for the first time on record. Urban Wire blog. May 8, 2020. Accessed June 7, 2020. https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/latinx-unemployment-highest-all-racial-and-ethnic-groups-first-time-record
AMA CME Accreditation Information

Credit Designation Statement: The American Medical Association designates this Journal-based CME activity activity for a maximum of 1.00  AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to:

  • 1.00 Medical Knowledge MOC points in the American Board of Internal Medicine's (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program;;
  • 1.00 Self-Assessment points in the American Board of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery’s (ABOHNS) Continuing Certification program;
  • 1.00 MOC points in the American Board of Pediatrics’ (ABP) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program;
  • 1.00 Lifelong Learning points in the American Board of Pathology’s (ABPath) Continuing Certification program; and
  • 1.00 CME points in the American Board of Surgery’s (ABS) Continuing Certification program

It is the CME activity provider's responsibility to submit participant completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting MOC credit.

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