Objective:

To examine the social determinants of health and their relationship with the impact of COVID-19 on people's health and their communities, in order to elicit new reflections on the social challenges involved in addressing this disease.

Content synthesis:

Health and disease are socially constructed and determined. They are present in the way we live and the type of society we build. The current pandemic has uncovered long-existing deep disparities that are linked to increased risks. Although COVID-19 can affect everyone, the impacts of this disease are differently perceived according to the vulnerability given, above all, by social determinants. Complying with lockdown measures at home, hygiene habits, and social distancing become a matter of privilege that is impossible for certain sectors, especially in Latin American countries.

Conclusions:

Addressing the pandemic as a social problem requires looking beyond the characteristics of the virus, its ability to spread, and individual biological factors, thus switching the current focus to its true social determinants in order to promote equity in health services and identify intervention areas effectively. The reconstruction of the post-pandemic society requires that health be understood and practiced as a human right and public good guaranteed by the State. Otherwise, one of the consequences of adressing the pandemic as a "virus problem" will be to perpetuate negligence of political, economic, and social processes, that is, it requires a broad analysis of social contexts and circumstances.

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