Study: Covid-19 communications featuring racially diverse physicians can improve health outcomes for communities of color

In a new study by MIT professors Esther Duflo, Ben Olken, and Abhijit Banerjee, and physicians Marcella Alsan and Fatima Cody Stanford, along with other doctors and economists, public health video messages featuring a racially diverse set of physicians were found to decrease knowledge gaps about Covid-19 symptoms and transmission — generating important lessons about how we communicate about, and work to mitigate the effects of, the virus. Study results also indicated that, for Black individuals, watching a video with a racially concordant (Black) physician increased the degree to which they sought out more information about Covid-19.