COVID-19 Disparities Among Arab, Middle Eastern, and West Asian Populations in Toronto: Implications for Improving Health Equity Among Middle Eastern and North African Communities in the United States.

Introduction: Equity-oriented efforts to mitigate and prevent COVID-related disparities are hindered due to methodological limitations of the categorization of racial and ethnic groups, including Arabs and Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) communities, which remain invisible in national data collection efforts. This study highlights the disparities in COVID-related outcomes in Toronto, Canada and supports ongoing calls to collect public health data among MENA communities in the United States.

Methods: Data on racial/ethnic identity and hospitalizations were collected by the Toronto Public Health (TPH) of the Ontario Ministry of Public Health Case between May 20, 2020, and September 30, 2021 from people with a confirmed or probable case of COVID-19.

Middle Eastern and North African Americans may not be perceived, nor perceive themselves, to be White.

People of Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) descent are categorized as non-White in many Western countries but counted as White on the US Census. Yet, it is not clear that MENA people see themselves or are seen by others as White. We examine both sides of this ethnoracial boundary in two experiments.