Lockdown lockout.

This multi-institutional retrospective look at practice patterns during the pandemic hones in on racial disparities in prostatectomy rates. Among 647 men being managed for localized prostate cancer, 26% of the 475 White men versus only 1% of the 172 Black men underwent timely prostatectomy despite similar, if not worse, disease characteristics among the Black cohort. One big reason is that treatment centers with the largest pandemic shutdowns disproportionately cared for Black patients. The accompanying editorial highlights how this is only one example of how policies made at the top often work--ignorantly if not intentionally--to enhance healthcare disparities, such as hospitals caring for a greater proportion of privately-insured have received significantly more pandemic relief funds. | Bernstein / Vince, JAMA Oncol 2021