Race, Racism and COVID-19

Watch the November 24, 2020, inaugural lecture of the Institute for Pandemics Lecture Series on Health Equity. Focused on racial health inequities in COVID-19 outcomes and highlighting the empirical evidence that has been accumulated thus far, this event explored how advocates and policymakers are taking up the evidence in real-time. The expert panel explored the data and other indicators and examined its implications for using policy and other strategies to dismantle structural, systemic racism.

Key issues explored by the panellists included:
• What are the ‘fundamental causes’ of racial inequities in COVID-19 and how is structural racism implicated?
• What insights can we glean from the similarities in racial inequities in Canada and the U.S.?
• What are the issues with collecting race-based data, and what can we do to make sure this data, and the communities it is collected from, are protected?

Featured Speakers:
**Nancy Krieger, Professor of Social Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
**Camille Orridge, Senior Fellow, Wellesley Institute and Professor at Dalla Lana School of Public Health
**Joe Cressy, Councillor for Ward 10, Spadina-Fort York, City of Toronto
**Arjumand Siddiqi, Canada Research Chair in Population Health Equity, Division Head of Epidemiology, Associate Professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health
**Adalsteinn Brown, Professor & Dean, Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Please see below for additional resources mention by the speakers:

[birderjohn]

The factor is blown out of proportion based on the facts. Opinions are strong but implying systematic racism on the whole of the healthcare system requires more proof, outcome and cause are two different things that require open mindedness, not a conclusion in search of a cause.