While industry leaders have made progress in addressing some disparities in health care, it’s clear that many inequities remain in place. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated those inequities, which some experts discussed at the 2022 Alaska State of Reform Health Policy Conference.
Veronica Sandoval, Principal at Genentech’s Chief Diversity Office, said Genentech studied epidemiology data, including hospitalization rates for Black, Latino, Native American, and Alaska Indian patients during the pandemic.
“They were being hit hard,” Sandoval said. “When you saw the hospitalization rates, they were the ones that were being hospitalized the fastest and dying at faster rates.”
Celeste Hodge Growden, President and CEO of the Alaska Black Caucus, said the pandemic also exacerbated economic disparities for working-class Alaskans. Workers who had jobs that were deemed to be essential were taking every-day risks for wages that were not sustainable, Growden said.
“We know wages for people working those jobs during the pandemic were ridiculous,” Growden said. “These are grocery store workers, people at health care facilities, [workers] that care for our children, day care providers, and many others. Many so-called essential jobs are the lowest paid, and these jobs are disproportionately held by people of color. Those wages need to be raised.”
Those workers also had to work overtime hours during the pandemic, which made it harder for them to address personal living requirements,...
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