As the numbers are coming in, statistics show that communities of color, particularly Latinx and Black communities are both contracting COVID at higher rates and dying from it at higher rates. What is causing this inequity? What solutions can we enact, both now and in the future, to change this? Sarah Edwards (MPP ’20) spoke with Rashawn Ray, David M. Rubenstein fellow at the Brookings Institution and an associate professor of sociology at the University of Maryland. To learn more about this issue, we recommend reading these two articles Rashawn wrote for Brookings: “Why are Blacks dying at higher rates from COVID-19?” “How to reduce the racial gap in COVID-19 deaths”