DeepTrace: Improving US Pandemic Health Care through Health Disparity Identification and Determinant Tracing

This research provides a thorough analysis of health disparities in the US based on multiple COVID-19 datasets. We examine the structural, social, and constructural determinants of health in the US to assist in ascertaining why disparities occur in infection and death rates due to COVID-19 pandemic. Extensive experimental results show the effectiveness of DeepTrace. The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has severely impacted countries around the world with unprecedented mortality and economic devastation and has disproportionately and negatively impacted different communities-especially racial and ethnic minorities who are at a particular disadvantage as they are more likely to be the potential target of COVID-19 infection. Black Americans have a long-standing history of disadvantage (e.g., long-standing disparities in health outcomes) and are in a vulnerable position to experience the impact of this pandemic. Although some prior research indicates high-risk and vulnerability of the elderly and patients with underlying co-morbidities, little research paid attention to tracing the social and structural health determinants that yield disparities in this pandemic. The research provides new strategies for determining these health determinants to improve health care in the US.