The Relationship between Systemic Racism, Residential Segregation, and Racial/Ethnic Disparities in COVID-19 Deaths in the United States.

Introduction: Although Black Americans are not substantially more likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19, hospitalization rates and death rates are considerably higher than for White Americans. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between systemic racism generally, and residential segregation in particular, and racial/ethnic disparities in deaths due to COVID-19.

Methods: To assess racial disparities in COVID-19 and systemic racism in US states, we calculated descriptive statistics and bivariate Pearson correlations.