The Storyline: Professor López-Anuarbe discusses the impact of COVID-19 on health, economic disparities
Associate Professor of Economics Mónika López-Anuarbe discussed how long-standing healthcare and economic disparities have exacerbated the COVID-19 pandemic for communities of color, and particularly the Hispanic community, on a recent episode of The Day newspaper’s “The Storyline” podcast.
The Storyline takes a look at the top stories on Theday.com and from around southeastern Connecticut, hosted by journalists who talk about the communities they cover, and the stories they report. López-Anuarbe, who specializes in health economics and health equity, was interviewed by reporter Sten Spinella about the health disparities illuminated by the pandemic, as well as the difficulties in researching and reporting on them.
“The pandemic has simply impacted Hispanic populations and elderly more, because of all of the embedded vulnerabilities,” López-Anuarbe told Spinella.
“We have sicker people with lower access to health care, lower levels of insurance, higher morbidity levels, lower socioeconomic status—we are just checking the boxes of everything that can go wrong.”
López-Anuarbe added that she hopes Americans learn from the pandemic and make positive changes going forward.
“It’s important that these topics have been highlighted and exacerbated because sometimes it is when we are ... in a crisis that we actually do something about it,” she said.
“People are talking about these topics at their dinner tables. It’s not just an academic exercise anymore.”
