The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted millions of Americans, yet it is increasingly clear that Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), including Latinx immigrant communities, have been hit the hardest, with significantly more illness, hospitalizations, and death than White communities. The emerging disparities reflect the entrenched structural inequalities that persist in the United States, placing an unequal and unjust disease burden on racial and ethnic minoritized communities.

The NCFR Board of Directors is concerned about emergent disparities based on one’s family configuration. Research demonstrates that families matter for health. The systematic privileging of married, heterosexual, two-parent nuclear families over other family forms has resulted in unequal COVID-19 related economic and health burdens, as well as unequitable policy solutions. For example, economic relief packages include more money for married couples who file their taxes jointly than single parents or non-marital couples and additional financial support for the children of married couples. Single parents (largely headed by women) and young parents who were already experiencing economic hardships prior to the pandemic, are facing greater hardships during the current economic recession. Food insecurity has doubled by some estimates. Single parents and other families who cannot work remotely face significant childcare challenges. Even among families whose members can work remotely, K-12 school offerings, whether hybridized or 100% virtual, will no doubt continue to stymie parents’ ability to “do it all” as full-time workers and care providers.

While staying at home has been the safest place for many during the pandemic, victims of domestic violence, including intimate partner violence and child abuse and neglect, are at increased risk as a result of social distancing and quarantine. Children are specifically vulnerable to abuse during COVID-19 due in part to increased stress levels among parents and diminished resources and supports. Before the pandemic, an adult survivor or victim could flee a violent situation or file a protective order with the police. Many of these options are unavailable right now.

Researchers suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic is also having a disproportionately negative effect on women and their employment opportunities, with more women than men losing their jobs; this is especially true among Black, Latina, and immigrant women. Yet the U.S. government has determined that citizens, including children, related to undocumented immigrants are not eligible for COVID-19 economic relief. Immigrant workers are among those essential workers on the front lines who are keeping food chains, caregiving, and other services operational. The uneven distribution of aid has increased vulnerabilities and insecurities among immigrant families who are already confronting economic and health disparities during this pandemic.

Given the complexities and diversities of family experiences, the NCFR Board urges our members—scholars, educators, and practitioners—to continue to raise awareness, disseminate family research, and build interventions to address the disparate economic and health burdens shouldered by BIPOC, immigrant communities, and other families rendered vulnerable because of social inequalities. More research is needed to understand the full array of unintended—and potentially life or death—consequences of laws, policies, and practices during the COVID-19 pandemic that have resulted in family health inequities and undue suffering. More research is needed to document COVID-related resilience processes among diverse families as well.

This is a call to action. Valuing diverse families should include efforts at every level of our society to reduce systemic and structural inequalities and advance equitable laws, policies, and practices—especially during the COVID-19 pandemic—that promote and protect the health and well-being of all families.

 

References

Alon, T. M., Doepke, M., Olmstead-Rumsey, J., & Tertilt, M. (2020). The impact of COVID-19 on gender equality. National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER Working Paper series, Paper 26947). www.genderportal.eu/sites/default/files/resource_pool/w26947.pdf

Bauer, L. (2020, May 6). The COVID-19 crisis has already left too many children hungry in America. Brookings. www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2020/05/06/the-covid-19-crisis-has-already-left-too-many-children-hungry-in-america/

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Health equity considerations and racial and ethnic minority groups. www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/health-equity/race-ethnicity.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fcoronavirus%2F2019-ncov%2Fneed-extra-precautions%2Fracial-ethnic-minorities.html

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020). Operating schools during COVID-19. www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/schools.html

Gould, E., & Wilson, V. (2020). Black workers face two of the most lethal preexisting conditions for coronavirus—racism and economic inequality. Economic Policy Institute. Article 193246. https://files.epi.org/pdf/193246.pdf

Kim S. J., & Bostwick, W. (2020). Social vulnerability and racial inequality in COVID-19 deaths in Chicago. Health, Education & Behavior, 47(4), 509-513. https://doi.org/10.1177/1090198120929677

Letiecq, B. L. (2019). Surfacing family privilege and supremacy in Family Science: Toward justice for all. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 11(3), 398-411. https://doi.org/10.1111/jftr.12338

Migration Policy Institute. (2020). Mixed-status families ineligible for CARES act federal pandemic stimulus checks. www.migrationpolicy.org/content/mixed-status-families-ineligible-pandemic-stimulus-checks

Pew Research Center. (2020). Hispanic women, immigrants, young adults, those with less education hit hardest by COVID-19 job losses [Data set]. www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/06/09/hispanic-women-immigrants-young-adults-those-with-less-education-hit-hardest-by-covid-19-job-losses/

Sick, N. (2020, March 30). What young parents need to weather the COVID-19 crisis. Urban Wire. www.urban.org/urban-wire/what-young-parents-need-weather-covid-19-crisis

Snell, K. (2020, March 26). What’s inside the Senate’s $2 Trillion coronavirus aid package. National Public Radio. www.npr.org/2020/03/26/821457551/whats-inside-the-senate-s-2-histrillion-coronavirus-aid-package

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2020). Intimate partner violence and child abuse considerations during COVID-19. www.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/social-distancing-domestic-violence.pdf

The COVID Tracking Project. (2020). Racial data dashboard. https://covidtracking.com/race/dashboard

Topping, A. (2020, May 29). COVID-19 crisis could set women back decades, experts fear. The Guardian. www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/29/covid-19-crisis-could-set-women-back-decades-experts-fear

Umberson, D., & Thomeer, M. B. (2020). Family matters: Research on family ties and health, 2010 to 2020. Journal of Marriage and Family, 82(1), 404-419. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12640

Zero to Three. (2020). How COVID-19 is impacting child care providers. www.zerotothree.org/resources/3398-how-covid-19-is-impacting-child-care-providers

 

Additional Resources

Alkon, A. H., Bowen, S., Kato, Y., & Young, K. A. (2020). Unequally vulnerable: a food justice approach to racial disparities in COVID-19 cases. Agriculture and Human Values, 35, 535-536. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-020-10110-z

Farley, J. H., Hines, J. F., Lee, N. K., Brooks, S. E., Nair, N., & Chapman-Davis, E. (2020). Promoting Health Equity in the COVID-19 Era. The Society of Gynecologic Oncology. www.sgo.org/resources/promoting-health-equity-in-the-covid-19-era/

Fish, J. N., McInroym L. B., Paceley, M. S., Williams, N. D., Henderon, S., Levine, D. S., & Edsall, R. N. (in press). “I’m kinda stuck at home with unsupportive parents right now”: LGBTQ youths’ experiences with COVID-19 and the importance of online support. Journal of Adolescent Health, 1-3, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.06.002

Gausman, J., & Langer, A. (2020). Sex and gender disparities in the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Women’s Health, 29(4), 465-466. https://doi.org/10.1089/jwh.2020.8472

Kim, E. J., Marrast, L., & Conigliaro, J. (2020). COVID-19: Magnifying the effect of health disparities. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 35(8), 2441–2442. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-020-05881-4

Krouse, H. J. (2020). COVID-19 and the widening gap in health inequity. Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, 161(1), 65-66. https://doi.org/10.1177/0194599820926463

Lund, E. M. (2020). Even more to handle: Additional sources of stress and trauma for clients from marginalized racial and ethnic groups in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. Counseling Psychology Quarterly. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/09515070.2020.1766420

Owen, W. F., Carmona, R., & Pomeroy, C. (2020). Failing another national stress test on health disparities. American Medical Association, 323(19), 1905-1906. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.6547

Sood, L., & Sood, V. (2020). Being African American and rural: A double jeopardy from COVID-19. The Journal of Rural Health. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/jrh.12459

Xafis, V. (2020). ‘What is convenient for you is life-saving for me’: How health inequities are playing out during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Asian Bioethics Review, 12, 223-234. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41649-020-00119-1

Yancy, C. W. (2020). COVID-19 and African Americans. American Medical Association, 323(19), 1891-1892. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.6548