Correlation of COVID-19 Fatality Risk with Health Care Access and Quality in 87 Countries

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been a severe threat to global health. Method: We calculated Spearman rank correlation coefficients between a country’s case fatality risk at various stages of the pandemic and the Healthcare Access and Quality (HAQ) index in 87 countries. Results: . COVID-19 case fatality risks and HAQ indexes were negatively correlated at 5000 confirmed cases. As for per-capita cases, the aforementioned correlation was significantly negative at 500 cases per million people. Conclusion: Negative correlations between COVID-19 case fatality risks and HAQ indexes weakened and then disappeared with the progressive burden of COVID-19 infection over time. In the end, even the best public health systems were overwhelmed by the COVID-19 pandemic.