COVID amplified racial inequities in NJ’s health care system, new study says
March 17, 2024
Mosaic
Types : In the News
When COVID hit, it hurt some far more than others.
The poor struggled more than the rich. The elderly were struck down in nursing homes wholly unprepared for a wildly infectious and deadly virus. And people of color were more likely to die.
An independent report released this week on how New Jersey responded to the pandemic raised anew the troubling questions of equity as the study team noted the disproportionate and deadly consequences felt across the state.
“The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated existing inequities in New Jersey and contributed to the pandemic’s overall impact, affecting some New Jersey populations, such as low-income communities and some racial and ethnic groups, far more than others,” said the report, commissioned by Gov. Phil Murphy and directed by Paul Zoubek, a former assistant state attorney general.
The $9 million review, conducted by Zoubek’s law firm, Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads, working with Boston Consulting Group, was launched in November 2022 and involved meetings with approximately 500 individuals, from high-level state officials and health organizations, to the New Jersey Black Empowerment Coalition and families who lost loved ones.