The Coronavirus Doesn’t Discriminate, But U.S. Health Care Showing Familiar Biases

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April 2nd, 2020

While more affluent parts of Nashville have had testing sites for weeks, this drive-through testing site at Meharry Medical College, in a historically African American neighborhood, experienced weeks of delays because staff couldn’t acquire the needed testing supplies and gear like masks and gloves. It finally opened April 30.

Ken Morris/Meharry Medical College

The new coronavirus doesn’t discriminate. But physicians in public health and on the front lines say that in the response to the pandemic, they can already see the emergence of familiar patterns of racial and economic bias.

In one analysis, it appears doctors may be less likely to refer African Americans for testing when they show up for care with signs of infection.

The bio-tech data firm Rubix Life Sciences, based in Boston, reviewed recent billing information in several states, and found that an African American with symptoms like cough and fever was less likely to be given one of the scarce coronavirus tests.

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