Poverty increases the likelihood of experiencing poor health and, in turn, traps communities in poverty. Poor health can also impact an individual’s ability to work, reduce economic opportunities, inhibit educational attainment, and force those who work in riskier professions` to work at any cost. This is especially true during the current pandemic. Blacks and Latinos make up a large number of essential workers who have been forced to work in positions that place them at greater risk of contracting the coronavirus to pay their bills, but have limited access to quality medical care if they become ill. This creates what has been referred to as a negative feedback loop or what epidemiologist Jacob Bor and Sandro Galea call the twenty-first-century health-poverty trap.