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.
![Despair and Disparity: The Uneven Burdens of COVID-19](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2020/04/2020_0428-covid-1200x675.jpg)
![A girl in a mask watches an adult hand over a vaccine vial to another adult](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2023/02/2023_0201-400x300.jpg)
6.7 Million Children Could Lose Health Coverage as COVID Protections Expire
GOP efforts to end pandemic emergency orders early would create “wide-ranging chaos” across the health care system.
![A discarded surgical mask lies on the sidewalk in Chicago, Illinois on April 1, 2020.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/12/GettyImages-1240457464-400x300.jpg)
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.
![Illustration of person cutting chain attaching another person to COVID molecule](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/12/2022_1203-covid-prison-400x300.jpg)
Prison COVID Policies Fell Short. Incarcerated Activists Fight for Their Lives.
Incarcerated organizers are still in fight mode against lethal COVID policies.
![Then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer speaks as Senators Amy Klobuchar and Chris Murphy listen during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on August 4, 2020, in Washington, D.C.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/11/2022_1117-schumer-covid-400x300.jpg)
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.
![Activists and faith groups protest against COVID-19 vaccine mandates and restrictions at a rally in Washington, D.C., on January 23, 2021.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/11/2022_1115-anti-vax-400x300.jpg)
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.
![A person holds the COVID-19 drug Paxlovid from the pharmaceutical company Pfizer.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/10/2022_1028-paxlovid-400x300.jpg)
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.
![Principal Alice Hom walks down a hallway followed by a student at Yung Wing School P.S. 124 on April 11, 2022, in New York City.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/09/GettyImages-1390944580-400x300.jpg)
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.
![Frustrated teenage female student sitting with head in hands. She is sitting against metallic lockers.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/09/GettyImages-1279908769-400x300.jpg)
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.”
![Masked marchers in matching yellow shirts carry photos of their loved ones that had passed away due to complications from covid](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/08/2022_0829-covid-march-400x300.jpg)
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.
![People walk across the Brooklyn Bridge in the second annual COVID March to Remember on August 6, 2022, in New York City.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/08/2022_0808-covid-march-400x300.jpg)
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.