Underlying Causes of the Disproportionate Effect of COVID-19 within Minority Communities in the United States

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis has had detrimental impacts globally, but it has disproportionately affected minority groups especially in the United States. In particular, Indigenous and Black Americans have continued to have the highest proportion of COVID-19 cases as well as case fatalities. The goal of this study was to conduct a systematic literature review to understand why there are disproportionate effects within these communities in the United States. It also serves to provide methods that should be in place to protect these vulnerable communities from facing worse outcomes of this pandemic. Key information was gathered from twenty-one sources including quantitative studies related to this topic. The following causes that are supported by the results of this systematic literature review include health disparities, higher risk of comorbidities, implicit biases of health care providers, air pollution in urban settings, and genetic variations in the androgen receptor. Based on these results, there should be improved preventative plans with a health equity lens so that these communities don't face the disproportionate burden in the future.