Closing the health inequity gap during the pandemic: COVID-19 mortality among racial and ethnic groups in Connecticut, March 2020 to December 2021

COVID-19 has disproportionally burdened racial and ethnic minority groups within the United States. Leveraging statewide data, we examined the evolution of racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 related deaths among Connecticut residents residing in non-congregate settings over three periods of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite observing large disparities in the age-adjusted mortality rates between Hispanics, non-Hispanic Blacks, and non-Hispanic Whites during the initial pandemic period (March to August 2020), we observed meaningful reductions in the disparities during the subsequent periods (August 2020 to July 2021; July to mid December 2021). Further, during the third period, we failed to find a significant difference in age-adjusted mortality between non-Hispanic Blacks and non-Hispanic Whites. These findings provide evidence that attenuation of racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 related outcomes are achievable.