Discounting Lives: Analyzing the causes of Hispanic Adversity raging in the Healthcare sector during Covid-19 using Cumulative Inequality Theory

In the wake of the devastation caused by Covid-19 in the community, one racial minority has been the most heavily hit by this pandemic - Hispanics. There have been numerous studies that bring out the difference in the level and quality of healthcare received by racial and ethnic minorities. However, most of these studies have focused on using socioeconomic status to account for minorities being disproportionately affected by health-related issues and ailments. We investigate the cumulative and ever-increasing gap in healthcare facilities and the resultant inequality which leads to Hispanics being severely affected by the novel coronavirus more than any other race or ethnicity. The study highlights the importance of considering a cumulative inequality effect that can help explain the reason for minorities being more prone to Covid-19. Even with an increase in their socioeconomic status, Hispanics have a way higher infection rate than other races. It is here that we use the cumulative inequality theory to explain the counterintuitive observation above. A cumulative inequality in healthcare facilities over the years helps to account for the disproportionate infection rate among the Hispanic population. We conduct empirical case comparisons (ECCs) to test our hypotheses and find that socioeconomic status is not sufficient to explain the higher infection rates among the minority population. We propose using cumulative inequality theory to fight both the current infection rate among minorities and fortify them from being negatively affected by future pandemics as well. © 2021 IEEE Computer Society. All rights reserved.