The polarization of politics and public opinion and their effects on racial inequality in COVID mortality.

ABSTRACT: Evidence from the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. indicated that the virus had vastly different effects across races, with black Americans faring worse on dimensions including illness, hospitalization and death. New data suggests that our understanding of the pandemic's racial inequities must be revised given the closing of the gap between black and white COVID-related mortality. Initial explanations for inequality in COVID-related outcomes concentrated on static factors-e.g., geography, urbanicity, segregation or age-structures-that are insufficient on their own to explain observed time-varying patterns in inequality. Drawing from a literature suggesting the relevance of political factors in explaining pandemic outcomes, we highlight the importance of political polarizat

SUBMITTER: Lo A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9477310 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature