Amid the historic convergence of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and antiracist activism in the US, JAMA spoke with Chicago public health legend Linda Rae Murray, MD, MPH. In the Juneteenth conversation, Murray said the pandemic glaringly exposed health inequities and systemic racism. The Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, further pulled back the veil on institutional racism in law enforcement, which medical organizations say is a social determinant of health (Video).
Meanwhile, the COVID-19 crisis also revealed the nation’s eroding public health readiness, according to Murray, an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health and a past president of the American Public Health Association.