The COVID 19 pandemic has worsened health disparities worldwide Across all nations the burden of COVID 19 has fallen most heavily on the socially disadvantaged In the United States the COVID 19 mortality rate for Black Americans is over twice that of their White American counterparts and people in prisons have more than double the COVID 19 mortality rate of the general U S population Other social dimensions such as income gender sexuality and immigration status have also played a significant role in COVID 19 infection hospitalization and mortality The Social Epidemiology of the COVID 19 Pandemic provides an interdisciplinary analysis of the pandemic s effect across populations and its disproportionate impact on vulnerable groups in society including racial ethnic minority immigrant and incarcerated populations Written by leading international scholars this essential volume describes how the COVID 19 pandemic intersects with nearly every social determinant of health from race and ethnicity to income inequality and how such interactions compound existing structural disadvantages Using examples from upper middle and high income countries such as the United States contributing experts delve into the differential impacts of COVID 19 by major social determinants of health and reveal the resultant effect of pandemic related policy on health outcomes Together these authors underline the urgent need for further integration of social epidemiology into public health decision making to ensure that every population receives the care it requires Drawing from research across epidemiology sociology psychology and public policy The Social Epidemiology of the COVID 19 Pandemic illuminates the stark disparities exacerbated by the COVID 19 pandemic and the valuable insights from social epidemiology that can inform a more equitable pandemic response
