Editorial: After the Pandemic, Rebuilding with Ethics and Justice

Worldwide, COVID-19 has had a staggering impact, with the number of cases approaching eight million and the death toll over 430,000 as of mid-June, 2020.1 What the stark numbers don’t show, however, is that, as governments and public health officials implement measures to stop the spread of the virus, the group most affected are those at the lower end of the socio-economic pyramid. In a poignant New York Times piece, reporters Max Fisher and Emma Bubola point out that, alongside age and pre-existing health conditions, low socioeconomic status is a major risk factor for COVID-19.2 That factor is doubled in the case of the undocumented, as Charles Bethea’s recent piece in the New Yorker suggests.