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)
![The U.S. Capitol as seen on January 19, 2022, in Washington, D.C.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/03/GettyImages-1237839582-1-400x300.jpg)
The Pandemic Isn’t Over Yet, But Congress Is Willing to Gamble That It Is
The U.S. isn’t prepared to deal with future COVID variants, an entirely different pandemic, or even the current spread.
![British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and U.S. President Joe Biden arrive for a G7 leaders meeting during a NATO summit at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels, on March 24, 2022, in Brussels, Belgium.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/03/2022_0325-boris-johnson-biden-400x300.jpg)
Our Governments Have Chosen Capitalism Over Preparing for Next COVID Surge
In refusing to prioritize preparation for the next COVID surge, our leaders are sacrificing the most vulnerable.
![Six disabled people of color smile and pose in front of a concrete wall. Five people stand in the back, with the Black woman in the center holding up a chalkboard sign reading 'disabled and here.' A South Asian person in a wheelchair sits in front.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/03/2022_0321-disabled-and-here-400x300.jpg)
Disability Doesn’t Make Us Less Worthy of Life. COVID Policy Assumes It Does.
As we hope for a world a little less dominated by COVID, we must recognize that risk will not be the same for everyone.
![Looking through a narrow window into solitary confinement room at a prisoner, all overshadowed by a COVID molecule](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/03/2022_0321-covid-solitary-b-400x300.jpg)
COVID-Fueled Solitary Confinement Still Plagues Prisons and Jails
Two years into the pandemic, prisons are still using torturous conditions over depopulating prisons to stop the spread.
![A clinician cares for a patient in the Emergency Department at Providence St. Mary Medical Center on March 11, 2022, in Apple Valley, California.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/03/2022_0314-covid-hospital-400x300.jpg)
Pneumonia Almost Killed Me. As COVID Restrictions Ease, I Fear for My Life.
In 2017, I was hit with pneumonia, and my lungs remain damaged. When “normal” arrives, it won’t be for everyone.
![A volunteer with Lakeview Pantry helps a person load grocery items into a car outside the pantry on January 24, 2022, in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/02/2022_0228-food-pantry-400x300.jpg)
Poll Finds Most Voters Think Companies Are Exploiting Pandemic to Raise Prices
A whopping 80 percent of likely voters say that the government should crack down on corporate profiteering.
![A kindergarten student gets a COVID-19 test from an EMT on the campus of Heliotrope Avenue Elementary School on April 13, 2021, in Maywood, California.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/02/2022_0203-covid-test-student-400x300.jpg)
“Nobody’s Listening”: Teachers Raise Alarm Over COVID Testing Delays
Added workload combined with short staffing is just one of the obstacles facing schools amid a persistent pandemic.
![President Joe Biden departs after speaking about the authorization of the COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5-11, in the South Court Auditorium on the White House campus on November 3, 2021, in Washington, D.C.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/01/2022_0125-joe-biden-vaccines-400x300.jpg)
Political Leaders Use “Personal Responsibility” to Justify Needless COVID Deaths
For all his campaign promises, Biden has failed to set up a multilevel systemic public health response to COVID.
![](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/01/TheWorkmansPinnacleAwards-0107_Jillian-Weise-400x300.jpg)
I’m a High-Risk Disabled Professor. Am I Teaching In Person?
Governor DeSantis says I’m teaching in person. Where is the uprising of professors? Where is the change.org petition?
![Amid a pandemic, the conditions at youth prisons have become all the more inhumane.](https://truthout.org/app/uploads/2022/01/GettyImages-1290006431-400x300.jpg)
My Son Was Incarcerated at 13. Six Years Later, It’s Clear the State Failed Him.
Amid a pandemic, the conditions at youth prisons have become all the more inhumane.