Racial Disparities and COVID-19: Exploring the Relationship Between Race/Ethnicity, Personal Factors, Health Access/Affordability, and Conditions Associated with an Increased Severity of COVID-19

Abstract

COVID-19 was recognized as a pandemic in the United States in March 2020. Since the emergence, research has explored conditions associated with the illness; however, racial disparities remain underexplored. The purpose of this paper is to explore disparities in conditions associated with an increased severity risk of COVID-19 including race, personal factors, healthcare accessibility, and affordability. Using data from the 2018 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), univariate and multivariate analysis were performed. More Non-Hispanic (NH) Blacks (61.1%) and NH Whites (61.2%) had conditions associated with increased severity risk of COVID-19 compared to Hispanics (47.1%) (p