By Nicole Austin-Hillery

President Donald Trump downplayed the seriousness of the Covid-19 pandemic yesterday before leaving Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington, DC, following treatment for Covid-19. On Twitter he called on people not to be afraid of Covid-19, and said that the United States would “beat it” because “we have the best medicines.” But awaiting him on Pennsylvania Avenue were 20,000 empty chairs set up to commemorate the more than 200,000 killed in the US by the coronavirus to mark the first National Covid-19 Remembrance Day.

20,000 chairs.

Somber memorial to the 200,000 lives lost to Covid-19 in the US. https://t.co/Vb6ftUrfeX pic.twitter.com/zgMQ7W3cVI
— Jim Murphy (@jimmurphySF) October 5, 2020

The pandemic’s impact has been catastrophic in many ways. Many victims of the virus have died traumatic deaths or alone from loved ones. Millions have lost their jobs and face hunger and the possibility of eviction.

The pandemic has also underscored the deep inequities in the United States.

As Human Rights Watch has reported, structural racism in the US has helped Covid-19 ravage Black and Latinx communities at alarming rates. Black and Latinx people are three times more likely than white people to contract the novel coronavirus and nearly twice as likely to die from it. Immigrants are particularly vulnerable during the pandemic due to their work on the front lines of agriculture, meatpacking, and other jobs considered essential. When they get sick on the job or feel the squeeze of poverty, many workers fear seeking medical care or financial relief due to the US government’s harsh immigration enforcement measures.

People incarcerated in the US have also been hit hard by the crisis, as authorities have largely failed to release sufficient detainees to allow for social distancing.

As the death toll climbs and millions suffer, federal help remains elusive. Congress has yet to make substantial progress on moving a new Covid-19 relief package forward. Any agreed bill is likely to be much more modest than March’s CARES Act, even though that measure left too many people behind.

With each day Congress fails to enact inclusive Covid-19 relief legislation for communities across the country, more and more people–& disproportionately immigrant families, essential workers, & people of color–are facing hunger, homelessness, & illness. https://t.co/oKgVnoEzJy
— Thomas J. Rachko, Jr. (@ThomasRachkoJr) September 10, 2020

Families across the US have the same right to access health care, job security, and relief enjoyed by the most powerful among us. Concerns about systemic inequality should not be added atop the fear of getting the virus.

Nicole Austin-Hillery is head of the US Program at Human Rights Watch.