COVID-19 Pandemic: Exacerbating Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Long-Term Services and Supports

ABSTRACT

What services are available and where racial and ethnic minorities receive long-term services and supports (LTSS) have resulted in a lower quality of care and life for racial/ethnic minority users. These disparities are only likely to worsen during the COVID-19 pandemic, as the pandemic has disproportionately affected racial and ethnic minority communities both in the rate of infection and virus-related mortality. By examining these disparities in the context of the pandemic, we bring to light the challenges and issues faced in LTSS by minority communities with regard to this virus as well as the disparities in LTSS that have always existed.

KEYWORDS:

• Coronavirus
• COVID-19
• disparities
• LTSS
• quality of care
• quality of life

Key points

• • Racial/ethnic minority users of LTSS have increased risk during the COVID-19 pandemic due to individual and system-level factors.

• • The barriers that increase risk will remain after the pandemic passes without improved policies today.

• • The pandemic highlights the role of social support and isolation, important factors in racial and ethnic disparity in quality of life.

• • This crisis spotlights challenges faced by LTSS staff, particularly those who are immigrants and from communities of color.

Disclosure statement

John R. Bowblis provides consulting services to the health-care industry, which sometimes include long-term care providers. All other authors report no known conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This project was funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (R01-MD010729, PI: Shippee).  Tetyana Shippee also acknowledges funding from the MN Department of Human Services.