Truthout
Despair and Disparity: The Uneven Burdens of COVID-19
Addressing how the pandemic intersects with issues of social, economic, environmental, racial, gender and disability justice.

Series Introduction
Since COVID-19 hit the United States, it’s been at the top of every news outlet’s headlines. However, the disparate impact and deep injustices that the crisis has wrought often go unmentioned. So do the underlying oppressive systems that allowed the pandemic to reach the magnitude that it has. Truthout is taking on these injustices with a broad-ranging series, “Despair and Disparity: The Uneven Burdens of COVID-19,” which addresses how the pandemic intersects with issues of social, economic, environmental, racial, gender and disability justice. Through investigative reporting and dynamic analysis, we’ll paint a real picture of this pandemic’s implications — and sketch a bold new image of what a post-pandemic world could look like. In this series, journalists, activists, organizers and thinkers, many of whom have been brutally impacted by the crisis themselves, will share stories and insights that point the way toward a transformed future.

I’m Immunocompromised. Here’s How I Feel About Masking in 2023.
The hardest part of all this is that no one seems to care whether I live or die.

Prison COVID Policies Fell Short. Incarcerated Activists Fight for Their Lives.
Incarcerated organizers are still in fight mode against lethal COVID policies.

Why Did Democrats Vote With the GOP to End the COVID National Emergency?
Congress is debating whether to terminate emergency orders that have allowed more people to access health care.

Billionaire-Funded “Anti-Science” Campaigns Are Causing Unnecessary Deaths
In places like Texas where the legislature took a strong anti-vaccine stance, the consequences have been devastating.

CDC Finds Huge Racial Disparities in Access to COVID Treatment Paxlovid
Black patients received Paxlovid for COVID-19 infection 36 percent less often than white patients.

Focusing on “Learning Loss” Obscures How Much We’ve Truly Lost in the Pandemic
The pandemic’s deaths have been un-dealt with most profoundly by prioritizing saving the economy rather than lives.

Schools Should Prioritize Mental Health Resources — for Both Students and Staff
COVID has exacerbated long-standing mental health problems for educators and students amid a rush to return to “normal.”

When We Rose to Fight COVID, We Were Deliberately Turned Against Each Other
There was a time when we came together to fight COVID, but that energy threatened the status quo more than the virus.

COVID Hasn’t Been Defeated, But Effective Public Health Measures Have Been
The demands of the market have been treated as more sacrosanct than the obligation to control and prevent a pandemic.

The Time to Plan for Winter COVID Needs to Start Now
Omicron variant BA.5 is being described by scientists as “the worst version of the virus that we’ve seen.”