The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a heavy toll on health care workers. Early in the epidemic it became clear that Black, American Indian and Indigenous, Latino/Latina/Latinx† and Hispanic and Pacific Islander communities, as well as historically marginalized and medically vulnerable populations, were disproportionately affected by COVID-19. At the same time, reports of harmful and racist experiences by minoritized and marginalized physicians, especially amongst Black and Asian doctors, were shared via social media and news articles.
The AMA conducted a web-based survey in June and July 2020 of 747 physicians from various racial and ethnic groups to explore the specific ways that the COVID-19 epidemic affected minoritized and marginalized physicians more negatively than their non-minoritized, non-marginalized counterparts.