Table 1.

A conceptual framework for identifying equity harms due to COVID-19 policies

	Country	COVID-19 policies	Evidence of potential harms				Interventions
			Physical	Psychological	Group/social	Opportunity cost
Place of residence	LMIC	People living in shanty towns in South Africa have been targeted [17]	Infection [[18], [19], [20]]	Mental health [20]	Street vendors; informal workers [21,22]	Economic loss; unemployment [23,24]	Topping up child support grants [25]
	HIC	Closure of green spaces [26,27]	Child injuries [28]	Mental health [29,30]	Homeless [31]	Inactivity [32,33]	Parks [26]; housing [34]
Race, ethnicity, culture, and language	LMIC	Lebanon's government quarantined refugee camps [35]	Decreased medical care [36]	Anxiety, PTSD [[37], [38], [39]]	Stigma, disenfranchisement [27,40]	Forgoing more effective interventions [24]	Provide food, medical supplies [41,42]
	HIC	Sweden's COVID-19 cases proliferated among immigrants [43]	COVID-19 cases [43]	Stigma [44]	Access to expert advice [45]	Population level alternatives [46]	Make housing available [44]
Occupation	LMIC	Informal workers in Nigeria and Kenya could not work [47,48]	Food insecurity [49]	Stigma [50]	Resistance and protests [51]	Economic output [52]	Cash payments [48]
	HIC	Essential workers at higher risk [53]	COVID-19 cases [54]	Stress [54,55]	Eviction [56]	Other illnesses [57]	Protect workers [58,59]
Gender/sex	LMIC	School closures have unique impacts on girls [60]	Food insecurity [61]	Child marriage [62]; mental health [61,63]	Gendered educational attainment [64,65]	Foregoing education [66]	Representation [67]
	HIC	In the United Kingdom, home is unsafe for some during lockdown [68]	Abuse [[68], [69], [70]]	Abuse [69,71]	Migrant women [72]	Morbidity [73,74]	Representation [59,75]
Religion	LMIC	Indonesia had high rates of COVID-19 [76]	Smoking risks [77]	Stigma [78,79]	Unhealthy commodities [80]	Displacing effective interventions [81,82]	Banning mudik [76]
	HIC	Certain UK religious groups may not be receiving COVID-19 news [83,84]	Hate crimes, assaults [84]	Stigma [85]	Preventing traditional practices [86]	Foregoing faith-based interventions [87]	Faith organizations may provide help [87]
Education	LMIC	90% of learners are out of school [88]	Food insecurity [89]	Anxiety, stress [90]	Poorer families [91]	Education [60]	Remote learning [60]
	HIC	Most US schools closed until September [92]	Food insecurity [93]	Anxiety, stress [90]	Health workers [94]	Absenteeism [94]	“Take-out” meals [95]
Socioeconomic status	LMIC	Lebanon restricted informal workers [96,97]	Food insecurity [98]	Stigma, stress [96]	Protests [99,100]	Education [101,102]	Fiscal measures [103,104]
	HIC	New Zealand's government enforced border closures [105]	COVID-19 risk in Māori [106]	Mental health [107,108]	Māori and Pasifika [107]	Tourism sector [105]	Avoid exacerbation inequalities [109,110]
Social capital	LMIC	Restrictions risk community networks [24]	Drug adherence [111]	Stress [112]	Cohesion [113,114]	Future local projects [115]	Remote support [116]
	HIC	“Snitch lines” and fines were adopted in Ottawa, Canada [117,118]	Decrease treatment seeking [119]	Depression [120]	Stigma, decreased trust [121]	Displace more effective alternatives [122]	Remote support [116]
Age	LMIC	Vaccine programs suspended in Ukraine [123]	Preventable diseases [124]	Mental health [125]	Children of poorest parents [126]	Increased inequalities [127]	Avoid suspending vaccines [12,128]
	HIC	The United Kingdom and the United States are isolating the elderly and those living in care homes	High rates of COVID-19 [129]	Loneliness, depression [130]	Need for health and social care [131]	Staggered release [132]	Support lines [133], access to care [134]
Disability	LMIC	Some South American prisons halted visits. Prevalence of disabilities is high in incarcerated people [135]	High rates of COVID-19 [136,137]	Mental health [138]	Stigma [139]	Visits reduce recidivism [138], Riots [135]	Decarceration [140]
	HIC	Canadian children's autism therapy disrupted [141]	Risk of COVID-19 [142]	Backsliding; stress [141,143]	Regressions in skills [144]	Access to information [145]	Involve affected groups [142,146]