Social Distancing as a Privilege: Assessing the Impact of Structural Disparities on the Covid-19 Crisis in the Black Community

• Publication year: 2021

Social Distancing as a Privilege: Assessing the Impact of Structural Disparities on the COVID-19 Crisis in the Black Community

Olympia Duhart
Nova Southeastern University - Shepard Broad College of Law, olympia@nova.edu

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SOCIAL DISTANCING AS A PRIVILEGE: ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF STRUCTURAL DISPARITIES ON THE COVID-19 CRISIS IN THE BLACK COMMUNITY

Olympia Duhart^*

Abstract

There is a harsh reality for people living with the COVID-19 restrictions in the same city. Though the virus has been called an equal opportunity threat, the truth is that it has had a deadly, disproportionate impact on Black and Brown people. The COVID-19 pandemic has crushed communities of color. Among Black Americans, who make up around 13% of the U.S. population, the COVID-19 infection and death rate are disproportionally high.

To curb the spread of this infectious disease, the CDC has advanced simple advice: apply social distancing guidelines. Social distancing (physical distancing) requires people to keep at least six feet from other people who are not in the same household. Though social distancing is an effective tool to help curb the spread of COVID-19, this simple mitigation strategy is not available to everyone. What is worse, the availability of social distancing measures at home or work often falls along racial lines. Structural racism has even impacted the ability of Black people to implement this simple mitigation strategy.

The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare in several significant ways the structural inequities that grip Black Americans, even exacerbating the impact of a global pandemic. An expansive array of short-term and long-term proposals have been explored to address

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the disparate impact of COVID-19 on the Black community. This Article proposes the inclusion of mandatory racial equity impact assessments into the COVID-19 response efforts. Recent federal action is one important step toward explicitly assessing race equity goals in response efforts, but mandatory assessments focused on racial equity are needed in the planning stage to minimize unintended racialized outcomes.

Anti-racist solutions must be embraced to close the gap in these structural inequities that leave Black Americans more exposed to COVID-19. To ensure that social distancing and other mitigation strategies are equally available, both federal and state governments should be required to assess the racial equity implications for COVID-19 response efforts. Lawmakers must continue to expand the reach of COVID-19 relief efforts to explicitly acknowledge race and minimize unintended, racialized, negative outcomes. A consistent, deliberate acknowledgement of race in crafting response measures is needed to create equitable, sustainable corrections.

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CONTENTS

Introduction..............................................................................1308

I. Social Distancing is Not Available to Those Who Need it Most.......................................................................................1315

A. Why Race Complicates Simple Advice..............................1317

1. Economic Disparities..................................................1318
2. Multigenerational Housing.........................................1319
3. Transportation Limitations.........................................1321
4. "Essential" Workers...................................................1323

II. Possible Corrections..........................................................1327

A. A Patchwork of Proposals ................................................ 1327
B. The Necessity of Racial Equity Impact Assessments ........ 1331

Conclusion.................................................................................1337

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Introduction

Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.

James Baldwin¹

Sara works as a graphic designer for an ad agency and lives in a small condo on South Beach, just a fifteen-minute drive across the causeway from her job in downtown Miami. When the COVID-19 quarantine went in place, she bought a headset online and started working remotely. At the peak of the pandemic, she relied on a steady stream of Uber Eats deliveries for meals and grocery drop-offs from Instacart. She survived her first virtual doctor's visit with Teledoc to renew a prescription. It was strange to "FaceTime" with a doctor, but at least her insurance covered it. To help pass the time, Sara watched almost everything imaginable on Netflix. Because Sara lived alone, it was challenging to isolate herself from her friends and family, but she did her best to honor the social distancing guidelines promoted to guard against infection. As a young, healthy white woman, she was not in a special risk population. Her work in downtown Miami left her feeling especially vulnerable to infection because she was so close to the epicenter. When the infection rates started to decline, her office cautiously re-opened, and she was expected to come to the office for one day a week. To prepare herself to reconnect with the world, she ordered more masks and extra hand sanitizer from Amazon and followed the return-to-work protocols. on her first day in the office, she went straight to her own office, wiped down the door handle with a Lysol wipe, and closed the door behind her. She put in her day alone and untouched, and only opened the door to her windowless office to go to the bathroom and leave at the end of the day. Sara had picked up a chicken wrap in the

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drive-through on her way in, so she ate lunch quietly at her desk as she listened to music. Navigating a new world in the middle of a global pandemic was hectic, but Sara was taking every precaution she could to stay healthy. She hoped she did not get infected.

Shonda works as a cashier at a Miami grocery store. She lives in Liberty City, a low-income neighborhood nine miles away from South Beach. When the quarantine for COVID-19 started, Shonda worried that she would lose her job and that she did not want to fall behind on her rent. With no paid sick leave, she could not afford to get sick. But she was told that she would still be expected to come in to make sure the grocery stores could serve customers and fulfill the barrage of Instacart orders coming in. She was nervous, but she was as careful as she could be at work. As a Black woman in her mid-fifties with diabetes, she stressed about her risk of complications from COVID-19. She never failed to wear a mask at work. But on her two bus rides to work—even with her mask—she felt worried because there was only so much that could be done to keep a healthy distance from the other passengers. Her work at the grocery store was even more stressful. Customers did not seem to take the mask precautions seriously, and the break room had only one table for lunch. At work, the shifts were staggered, but she wondered how often the tiny breakroom was cleaned. For lunch, she resolved to eat as fast as she could while sitting in the common area. In the apartment she shared with her adult son, her son's wife, and their daughter, it was an even bigger challenge to keep herself isolated. It was a two-bedroom apartment, but the months on end with no real outlet were difficult. She hated to admit it, but she was worried about being around her daughter-in-law, who worked as a childcare assistant at the local YMCA. As the city slowly started to reopen, her anxieties turned to her son, who was a waiter at a restaurant in Wynwood. With everyone going out around so many people, Shonda worried that it was a matter of time before someone got sick. No one in the home had health insurance, and no one had paid leave. Navigating a new world in the middle of a global pandemic was

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hectic, but Shonda was taking every precaution she could to stay healthy. She hoped that she would not get infected.

The story of Sara and Shonda, although imagined,² reflects a very real and harsh reality for people living with the COVID-19 quarantine in the same city. The spread of the contagious novel coronavirus brought the economy to a halt and caused widespread death and disease. As of February 12, 2021, there were more than 27 million COVID-19 cases in the United States.³ At that time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported a death toll of 470,110.⁴ The data, however shocking, does not fully relay the scope of the suffering. Even "survivors" are plagued with long-term disabilities. Mental health challenges have jumped from an average of one in ten pre-pandemic to four in ten.⁵ Many individuals were sidelined with long hospitalizations from COVID-19, which can kill the individual and also debilitate family members of the individual who struggled with loss and heartache. The unemployment rate in January 2021 was 6.3%, which translated to 10.1 million Americans being out of work.⁶ The reach of the pandemic has covered the globe and impacted every single demographic.⁷ Though the virus has been

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called an equal opportunity threat, the truth is that it has had a deadly, disproportionate impact on Black and Brown people. The COVID-19 pandemic has crushed communities of color.⁸

Among Black Americans, who make up around 13% of the U.S. population,⁹ the COVID-19 infection and death rate are disproportionally high. The share of Black Americans who have died from COVID-19 nationally is almost double their share of the U.S. population.¹⁰ In major cities, for instance, Black people represent more than 70% of all COVID-19 cases.¹¹ At one point in April 2020, 100% of the COVID-19 cases in St. Louis, Missouri, were Black people.¹² Black Americans are dying at 1.7 times the rate of white people from COVID-19.¹³

To curb the spread of this infectious disease, the CDC has advanced simple advice: apply social distancing guidelines.¹⁴ Social distancing (physical distancing) requires people to keep at least six feet from other...