We measure inequities from the COVID-19 pandemic on mortality and hospitalizations in the United States during the early months of the outbreak. We discuss challenges in measuring health outcomes and health inequality, some of which are specific to COVID-19 and others that complicate attribution during most large health shocks. As in past epidemics, preexisting biological and social vulnerabilities profoundly influenced the distribution of disease. In addition to the elderly, Hispanic, Black and Native American communities were disproportionately affected by the virus, particularly when assessed using the years of potential life lost metric. We provide a conceptual framework and initial empirical analysis that seek to shed light on contributors to pandemic-related health inequality, and we suggest areas for future research.

中文翻译：

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巨大的不平等：COVID-19 在美国的初步健康影响

我们衡量了 COVID-19 大流行对美国在疫情爆发初期的死亡率和住院率造成的不平等。我们讨论了衡量健康结果和健康不平等方面的挑战，其中一些是 COVID-19 特有的，而另一些则是在大多数大型健康冲击期间使归因复杂化。与过去的流行病一样，先前存在的生物和社会脆弱性深刻地影响了疾病的分布。除了老年人，西班牙裔、黑人和美洲原住民社区受到病毒的影响尤为严重，尤其是在使用潜在生命损失年限指标进行评估时。我们提供了一个概念框架和初步实证分析，旨在阐明与大流行相关的健康不平等的促成因素，并提出未来研究的领域。