Maryland modeled how to tackle racial health disparities. Let’s revive that success.

The coronavirus has laid bare the deep and long-standing health disparities that exist in communities of color and other underserved populations. A lack of access to care that existed well before the pandemic has exacerbated disparate rates of hospitalizations and deaths among African American and Latino communities nationally. In Maryland, we have witnessed these inequities. Black residents make up 31 percent of the state’s population and yet represent about 35 percent of coronavirus fatalities, with more than 2,600 lives lost to this deadly disease. The solutions to address these issues are well known. Previously, our state modeled what success could look like. Now is the time for action.