Recent research on life expectancy in American urban areas indicates that cities with deep history and greater degrees of racial and ethnic segregation often have alarming disparities in life expectancies across urban neighborhoods in public health studies.²⁷

For instance, there is a 30- year difference in life expectancy between individuals living in the predominantly Black neighborhoods of the South Side of Chicago and the predominantly white Streeterville residents, just nine miles North.

Given that neighborhoods with higher life expectancies tend to have greater access to quality health care, increased educational attainment, and higher income, it’s important to note how healthcare and its relevant social determinants (e.g., racism, discrimination, violence, access to care, safe housing, etc.) were exacerbated by the pandemic. In fact, the city of Chicago’s Mayor Lightfoot recently declared racism as a public health crisis in Chicago.²⁸