When the COVID-19 pandemic erupted, it dismantled daily routines, the economy and the health care system nearly overnight. Tens of thousands of Americans remain hospitalized or have lost their lives, while millions more have lost their jobs. Moreover, a disproportionate rate of people of color — especially Black, Latinx and Native American individuals — are represented in the numbers of infected, dead and unemployed. These statistics lay bare the teetering existence of millions who live on the margins and cannot weather even one financial disruption, who lack access to health care and who work in a service sector in which jobs have vanished.
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