Looking Forward: Continuing Collaboration for Action

The second ASCL conference was held in February 2020, about 1 month after the first case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was documented in the United States and before evidence of community spread. Since then, COVID-19 has become a global pandemic that has disproportionately infected, hospitalized, and killed ethnic and racial minorities in the United States (Jacobson et al., Am J Prev Med 61(5):644–651, 2021; Moore et al., MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 69:1122–1126, 2020; Shiels et al., Ann Intern Med. https://doi.org/10.7326/m21-2134, 2021; American Cancer Society, Cancer facts & figures 2021. American Cancer Society, Atlanta, 2021). According to a report of provisional life expectancy estimates from the National Center for Health Statistics, the life expectancy for US Hispanics decreased 3 years (81.8–78.8) between 2019 and 2020. As a result, the life expectancy advantage held by Hispanics over non-Hispanic whites narrowed by 60%, suggesting poorer health and mortality outcomes for the US Hispanic population. It is estimated that 90% of this decline in the life expectancy gap is the result of mortality caused by COVID-19 (Arias et al., Provisional life expectancy estimates for 2020. National Center for Health Statistics, Hyattsville, 2021). Some speculate that this disease disparity exists because Hispanics and other underrepresented groups receive the greatest exposure to the virus. They are more likely to live in densely populated areas and multigenerational households; use public transportation; and have essential public-facing jobs in the service and healthcare sectors, where working from home is not an option (American Cancer Society, Cancer facts & figures 2021. American Cancer Society, Atlanta, 2021; Hooper et al., JAMA 323(24):2466–2467, 2020; Balogun et al., JAMA Oncol 6(10):1531–1532, 2020). If infected, they are also more likely to experience severe symptoms of COVID-19 because of comorbidities such as diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, asthma, and other chronic conditions (Hooper et al., JAMA 323(24):2466–2467, 2020).