Harvard Medicine News: Health Equity Expert Prof. Sprague Martinez Discusses Long COVID
As the medical community continues to learn more about the long-term effects of COVID-19 at the scientific level, it is crucial that social workers have a seat at the table to analyze the virus’s social and health care policy implications. To this end, Prof. Linda Sprague Martinez spoke at a Harvard University press conference with experts from Boston University School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School to contextualize long COVID within health equity among marginalized populations (i.e. families of color).
Excerpt from “After the Infection Is Gone” by Katerina Pesheva, originally published on Harvard Medicine News:
HMNews: In addition to the science and the research that are so fundamental to understanding long COVID, what are some of the broader health care, policy, and societal implications of long COVID?
Sprague Martinez: Health inequities were pervasive pre-COVID and amplified with the pandemic. Some of the highest infection rates in Massachusetts occurred among immigrant communities, working class residents, and families of color.
As in COVID, health equity in long COVID is of paramount concern. People of color will likely be disproportionately impacted by long COVID. Long COVID has the potential to further widen existing gaps in health and getting ahead of it is critical.
The MassCPR [Harvard Medical School (HMS) started the Mass. Consortium on Pathogen Readiness (CPR) to address the immediate and long-term implications of the crisis] long COVID research group includes a health equity core of investigators that span disciplines and are embedded at hospitals conducting clinical trials as part of the NIH Recover Initiative. Our goal is to define the impact of long COVID on diverse communities in Massachusetts and to identify barriers to proper diagnosis and care of long COVID for those communities. We want to increase both awareness of and access to long COVID treatment among those communities and the primary care providers serving them.
We are also interested in influencing relevant policies at the local, state, and national levels. Right now, we are focused on Black and Latinx communities, but plan to expand and engage other people of color and other marginalized groups in the state. Some of the key elements in advancing health equity will involve direct community engagement to increase diversity and representation in clinical trials that study long COVID and support of community health centers and community health workers. Other elements include engaging the primary care providers to ensure they are getting the latest research and engaging their patients in meaningful conversations that go beyond symptoms to understand the social factors impacting their health, and referrals to job retraining programs for patients who cannot continue to do their work because of long COVID symptoms.
Also important will be policies related to eviction moratoriums, many of which have sunset, rental assistance, unemployment insurance, and more. Factors that lead and sustain inequities are caused by racialized policies that create inequitable living conditions. Tackling inequity will require an understanding of the structural determinants of health.”