Socioeconomic and Racial-Ethnic Disparities Appearing in COVID Rates and Fatalities

Earlier in the course, we had a special unit on health disparities. Early on in the COVID outbreak, there seemed to be relatively little coverage of health disparities, other than that people relatively well-off economically would likely have jobs that could be done via computer at home, whereas people of more modest means would either get laid off or have to go to work in potentially hazardous conditions (e.g., supermarket workers).

Now that more statistics have been amassed, however, it is becoming clear that health disparities are again with us. Disparities don't exist everywhere, but they do in a lot of places. Following are several articles I've collected, to facilitate discussion of the topic.

• The Guardian (UK)
• Kaiser Health News
• NBC News
• The Hill (Capitol Hill, Washington DC)
• NBC Miami
• MSNBC (video)
• 538 (site for quantitative analysis of politics, policy, and sports)

Medical Training and Doctors' Interactions with Patients and Their Families

For the next two weeks, we're going to be focusing on how doctors (and health professionals generally) are trained and how they interact with patients and their families. Some of the opening chapters of Jerome Groopman's book How Doctors Think will be our main reading. Diagnosing illness, in good part, requires doctors to ask the right questions and really listen to patients. Naturally, patients who potentially have a serious illness -- and their families -- will be very concerned and anxious. How health professionals, patients, and their families can speak to each other in ways that leave everyone as calm and satisfied as possible is therefore very important. As we get into this material in (virtual) lecture and the reading, students are invited to share their opinions and questions in the comments area.

Miscellaneous COVID-19 Reports

I found an interesting website (https://covid19.healthdata.org/projections) that has issued projections of when COVID-19 hospital resource use (e.g., beds, ventilators) and deaths will likely peak (and at what level) and subside, for the US as a whole and for each state. Below is a screenshot for right here in Texas (you can click on the graphic to enlarge it).

Basically, it's saying that the estimated peak death rate from Coronavirus in Texas will be 100 fatalities per day, occurring in early May, As baseball legend Yogi Berra supposedly said, however, prediction is difficult, especially about the future! Hence, the margin-of-error (pink shading) is pretty large.

Another recent development was the announcement that the U.S. now has more Coronavirus cases than any other country. We do not have the largest population of any country, nor did COVID-19 start here, So why might the U.S. have the world's highest total of cases?

Discuss!

Any Exciting Twitter Postings from Social-Health Research Labs?

If the lab you're following has any exciting new postings, please mention them in the Comments.

Health Consequences of Divorce

Our first topic, as we resume the course in online/distance mode, involves the health consequences of divorce. The focus is on individuals going through divorce, but the ripple effects on children, other family members, and friends of the ex-spouses are also worthy of inquiry. The lecture notes are here (see specifically the last two slides).

The associated reading assignment is:

Kiecolt-Glaser, J. K., & Wilson, S. J. (2017) Lovesick: How couples' relationships influence health. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 13, 421-443. (available here)

Please use the Comments link below (where it says how many comments there currently are) to share your ideas, including responding cordially and constructively to other students' comments. There is an "anonymous" option or you can identify yourself by writing your name at the bottom of your comment. If you leave anonymous comments, please e-mail me privately, so I'll know whom to credit.