43 Across the country, and in New York City, Black and Hispanic people continue to suffer graver outcomes from COVID-19. 42 This is compared to White people, who make up 32 percent of the city’s population, but only 27 percent of the city’s deaths. Current testing data collected by the New York State Department of Health shows that while Hispanic and Black people are 29 percent and 22 percent of the city’s population respectively, they comprise 34 percent and 28 percent of the city’s deaths respectively. In New York City, both Hispanic and Black people are dying at higher rates as compared to other ethnic groups. These disparities persist in New York City as well. 40 Hispanic Americans comprise a higher share of cases and deaths compared to their share of the total population in 35 of 45 states reporting cases and in 10 of 44 states reporting deaths. 39 This data is further supported by an analysis of state-reported data by the Kaiser Family Foundation which shows that Black people in America account for more cases and deaths relative to their share of the population in 30 of 49 states reporting cases, and in 34 of 44 states reporting deaths. In the United States, the most up-to-date reporting available by race shows that Black, Hispanic, Pacific Islander, and Indigenous people have a COVID-19 death rate of double or more that of White and Asian American people, who experience the lowest age-adjusted rates. 37 Researchers have found little evidence to suggest that these differences in outcomes are biological rather they are the result of longstanding and pervasive structural inequalities, systemic racism, and health inequities within the United States that increase the likelihoods ethnic and minority groups will get exposed to the virus, suffer serious illness and death if they are infected, and face barriers to accessing testing and treatment. Throughout this pandemic, Black and Hispanic people are bearing the brunt of higher rates of viral transmission, morbidity, and mortality-both across the country and in New York City. These essential jobs, particularly in high-risk occupations like enclosed warehouse work, increase Black and Hispanic communities’ risks of exposure to the virus, risks that are magnified when employers do not implement and enforce effective workplace protocols that protect workers on the job and allow them to take paid sick leave.īlack and Hispanic people in the United States and in New York City are at higher risk of getting sick and dying from COVID-19 While many in the United States have been able to work remotely, a disproportionate share of Black and Hispanic people have essential jobs that require them to go to work in order to provide critical national services that enable our communities to function during pandemic shut-downs. As CNN notes: “A key reason, and one that has largely been overlooked: Their jobs are killing them.” 36 Ethnic and racial minority groups, including Black and Hispanic communities, are suffering more acutely from the virus due to a number of social, economic, and health inequities that reflect the ongoing impacts of structural racism. Though it is clear that essential workers are at a significantly increased risk of harm from COVID-19, another enduring trend of this pandemic has been the disproportionate impact of the virus on Black and Hispanic workers and their families. This section of the brief examines the overrepresentation of Black, Latino and Hispanic workers in at-risk jobs like warehousing. Their complaint charged Amazon with public nuisance, breach of duty to provide a safe workplace and failure to timely pay COVID-19 leave, and that the company failed to comply with state and federal public health guidance during the COVID-19 pandemic.Ī nationwide group of occupational health physicians and public health experts, including SPH’s Linda Forst, MD, senior associate dean, submitted an amicus curiae brief to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in support of the plaintiffs’ claims. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and argued that Amazon’s productivity requirements prevent employees from engaging in basic hygiene, sanitation and social distancing. The workers in the lawsuit, including a warehouse associate, a problem solver, a processes assistant and a robotics team member - along with some of their family members - claimed that JFK8 failed to comply with guidance from the U.S. Inc., et al.Īmazon’s Staten Island center, known as JFK8, operates 24 hours a day, seven day a week and employs thousands of workers. Amicus Brief: Derrick Palmer, et al., vs.