NYC will consider race when distributing life-saving COVID-19 treatments (nypost.com)

New York City will take a patient’s race into account when distributing potentially life-saving COVID-19 treatments, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene revealed. The city will “consider race and ethnicity when assessing individual risk,” reads the agency’s official guidance from December 20, which adds that “longstanding systemic health and social inequities” can contribute to an increased risk of dying from COVID-19.

The race-based approach in treatment has already begun to have real-world consequences. One Staten Island doctor said he filled two prescriptions for Paxlovid this week and was asked by the pharmacist to disclose the race of his patients before the treatment was authorized.