In addition to higher rates of COVID-19 infection, hospitalization, and death, these communities have also experienced lower vaccination and treatment rates than White peers in the state, at most points during the pandemic.įactors rooted in the social determinants of health played an outsized role in risk and outcomes from COVID-19, among them: overrepresentation in essential worker jobs, little to no hazard pay or sick leave benefits, lack of personal protective equipment, limited access to health care, a higher burden of chronic conditions associated with magnified COVID-19 morbidity, digital divide disparities, poor quality of language-congruent information, the disproportionate impact of school closures, and multigenerational or overcrowded living conditions hindering social distancing or quarantining ( 13– 17). COVID-19 deaths among California's Hispanic or Latino/a/x (hereafter Latinx) residents were 30% higher than their representation in the state population, 33% higher in the African American or Black (hereafter Black) community, and 27% higher among American Indian and Alaskan Natives (hereafter AI/AN), and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (hereafter NH/PI) communities ( 6– 12). The disproportionate impact of Coronavirus-19 disease (COVID-19) on racial or ethnic minorities and low-income communities across California provided stark evidence of these inequities ( 2– 6).

California's population of 40 million residents is one of the most diverse and prosperous in the world ( 1– 3), but the state is characterized by some of the most dramatic disparities in wealth and health ( 2, 3).

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