THE WORLD WILL NEVER BE the same after the COVID-19 crisis. Along with the devastating impact on individuals, families, communities and countries, the pandemic has also exposed gaping cracks in our social, political and economic systems.

The most pervasive of those cracks is discrimination against women, which persists in every country in the world. Not one single country has yet reached gender equality, and even worse, many countries are moving slowly or even backtracking on key gender issues. The social and economic aftershocks from the COVID-19 pandemic could set women back by decades.

It doesn't have to be this way. Crises on the scale of COVID-19 bring devastation, but they can also provide a platform for radical social change and the chance to "build back better." COVID-19 could be the watershed we need to upend the systems that hold girls and women back. It brings a chance to make health care and education truly universal, to improve conditions and pay for millions, and to strengthen safety nets.

While there is no shortage of media coverage, think pieces, and speculation on the full effects of the spreading virus, COVID-19, many of us still find ourselves unsure of how to plan, rearrange, and reconfigure our schedules and lives. Many of our clients and consultants are gearing up for all-staff retreats, day-long trainings, and strategic planning sessions that center equity, diversity, and inclusion, all in the context of an emerging and increasingly alarming public health crisis. Yet, many of our most committed partners are struggling to find alternatives that don’t require them to shift plans altogether.

The work of equity requires us to slow down in the midst of challenges and crises, and take a bold stand in the interest of safety, first. Safety means many different things, and this is where centering equity becomes increasingly essential.

The global response to COVID-19 has made clear that the fear of contracting disease has an ugly cousin: xenophobia. As the coronavirus has spread from China to other countries, anti-Asian discrimination has followed closely behind, manifesting in plummeting sales at Chinese restaurants, near-deserted Chinatown districts and racist bullying against people perceived to be Chinese.

We asked our listeners whether they had experienced this kind of coronavirus-related racism and xenophobia firsthand. And judging by the volume of emails, comments and tweets we got in response, the harassment has been intense for Asian Americans across the country — regardless of ethnicity, location or age.

A common theme across our responses: Public transit has been really hostile. Roger Chiang, who works in San Francisco, recalled a white woman glaring at him on the train to work, covering her nose and mouth. When he told her in a joking tone that he didn't have the coronavirus, she replied that she "wasn't racist — she just didn't want to get sick."

The new coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19, continues to spread quickly, threatening the health and economy of the United States. Since January, more than8,300 Americans in 50 states; Washington, D.C.; and three territories have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. And many more cases have undoubtedly not been discovered due to a lack of testing. The outbreak of this deadly respiratory illness is especially worrisome for Black, Latinx, and other vulnerable communities.

These communities are disproportionately uninsured or underinsured and have fewer financial resources and employment benefits with which to weather this major public health emergency. Nothing demonstrates this vulnerability more vividly than the dramatic and persistent intergenerational racial wealth gap. The COVID-19 pandemic is another stark reminder that the next administration must address wealth inequality and make asset security a top priority.

The COVID-19 pandemic has reached pandemic proportions in the United States because of a lack of corporate and government accountability and decades of inequality that magnify its effects on our communities. These failings put Black lives at unnecessary, higher risk.

“Color Of Change was founded in 2005 in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, when no one cared about disappointing Black people, with morbid consequences. Now, faced with the prospect of Trump’s Katrina, Color Of Change is launching a series of campaigns that will mobilize Black people across America to ensure racial justice in Coronavirus response. There is still time for us to get this right. Together, we will hold corporate and government decision-makers accountable and ensure that Black and marginalized communities are not denied the care, protection and support that all communities deserve. Together we will demand an end to the systemic injustices that continue to deny us freedom and make us vulnerable.

“My mother could make a penny cry.” This is what my Godmother told me about how her mother would make a way out of no way while raising eight Black children during the 50’s and 60’s. We were driving with my 18-month old daughter through Montgomery, Alabama visiting civil rights museums including the Peace and Justice Memorial, The Legacy Museum, The Rosa Parks and the Freedom Rides Museum. While musing on how Black women have always adapted in order to survive the pain of racism, patriarchy, and in many cases, the realities of poverty, I thought about the fight in that statement.

The statement was not just about survival. It was about adaptation and resilience. While clutching the steering wheel and searching feverishly for signs of the Confederacy rising, I let go of fear to be present and feel the power of my historical and activist ancestors in my body. I called on Rosa, Clara, Helen, Maya, Nina, and Angela.

The 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic, which started in the city of Wuhan, Hubei, China, in December 2019, has led to an increase in acts and displays of Sinophobia as well as prejudice, xenophobia, discrimination, violence and racism against people of East Asian and Southeast Asian descent and appearance around the world, as well as discriminatory acts by Hong Kong people against mainland Chinese, and by mainland Chinese against those from Hubei province, more specifically, from the city of Wuhan. As the pandemic spreads and hotspots such as those in Europe and the United States form around the globe, discrimination against people from these hotspots has been reported.

Racial/ethnic minority populations experience worse health outcomes than do other groups during and after disasters.

Evidence for a differential impact from pandemic influenza includes both higher rates of underlying health conditions in minority populations, increasing their risk of influenza-related complications, and larger socioeconomic (e.g., access to health care), cultural, educational, and linguistic barriers to adoption of pandemic interventions.

Implementation of pandemic interventions could be optimized by (1) culturally competent preparedness and response that address specific needs of racial/ethnic minority populations, (2) improvements in public health and community health safety net systems, (3) social policies that minimize economic burdens and improve compliance with isolation and quarantine, and (4) relevant, practical, and culturally and linguistically tailored communications.