A Guardian analysis found that about 80% of state health departments have released some racial demographic data, which has already revealed stark disparities in the impact of Covid-19 in black and Latinx communities. But of those states, almost half did not explicitly include Native Americans in their breakdowns and instead categorized them under the label “other”.
Throughout the COVID-19 crisis many individuals, particularly those from East Asian backgrounds, are reporting more experiences of racism and xenophobia. We write to highlight ways to respond if you are experiencing bias and discrimination or if you are an ally who wants to support them.
This guide for preventing and addressing social stigma associated with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is intended to support governments, media and local organizations. The guide was produced by UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), and last updated in March 2020.
Stigmatization looms large in global health ethics because it prevents those with disease from seeking care, engenders fear of those who have disease, causes prejudice against entire groups or communities, and has, in some cases, led to violence against the stigmatized group.
Stigmatization is the real virus we should all be scared of, because it seems like it takes only an event like this to disrupt all the work done every day in the past decades to fight against discrimination and stigma.
As COVID-19 infections increase, so too does racism and xenophobia. Use our “Speak Up” strategies to let people know you’re not OK with racist or xenophobic comments about coronavirus or anything else.
This bulletin reminds entities covered by civil rights authorities keep in mind their obligations under laws and regulations that prohibit discrimination and the HIPAA Rules.
An ethically sound framework for health care during public health emergencies must balance the patient-centered duty of care—the focus of clinical ethics under normal conditions—with public-focused duties to promote equality of persons and equity in distribution of risks and benefits in society—the focus of public health ethics. Because physicians, nurses, and other clinicians are trained to care for individuals, the shift from patient-centered practice to patient care guided by public health considerations creates great tension, especially for clinicians unaccustomed to working under emergency conditions with scarce resources.
The scale and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic clearly rises to the level of a public health threat that could justify restrictions on certain rights, such as those that result from the imposition of quarantine or isolation limiting freedom of movement. At the same time, careful attention to human rights such as non-discrimination and human rights principles such as transparency and respect for human dignity can foster an effective response amidst the turmoil and disruption that inevitably results in times of crisis and limit the harms that can come from the imposition of overly broad measures that do not meet certain criteria.
