WASHINGTON, May 17 (Xinhua) -- The disparities in heath during the COVID-19 pandemic have exposed "undeniable effects of racism" in the United States, said Anthony Fauci, top U.S. infectious disease expert on Sunday.

Minority groups, especially African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans, have a greater risk of being infected with COVID-19, often because many of them work in essential jobs, Fauci said during a graduation ceremony for Emory University.

When people of color are infected, they will more likely develop a severe consequence, because minorities in general have a greater incidence and prevalence of underlying comorbid medical conditions, including hypertension, chronic lung disease, diabetes and obesity, he said.

"Now, very few of these comorbidities have racial determinants," Fauci said, adding that the disparities relate to "the social determinants of health dating back to disadvantageous conditions that some people of color find themselves in from birth regarding the availability of an adequate diet, access to health care, and the undeniable effects of racism in our society."

"Let us promise ourselves that our corporate memory of this tragic reality that an infectious disease disparately hospitalized and kills people of color does not fade after we return to some form of normality," he said. Enditem