Election 2020 is fast upon us. As with any electoral contest that also requires constituents to choose the next president, a lot is at issue. But amid the COVID-19 pandemic that plagues the world and has hit the United States particularly hard, the stakes are even higher.

The new coronavirus has killed nearly 200,000 Americans, cost 36 million people their jobs and resulted in the loss of health insurance for more than 5 million individuals. That’s not to mention the 28 million people who had already been living without medical coverage. Add to this the fact that COVID-19 has proved more lethal among Black and Latino communities, which are already disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS and other illnesses, and the situation is dire indeed.

For these reasons, we must vote to preserve the health insurance of millions of Americans under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

To help get out the vote, HIV/AIDS and human rights groups have taken to social media to remind us of the various ways we can cast our ballots safely despite threats to our health and our right to vote. (For example, in many states, you can vote in person before Election Day, November 3.)

While it’s true that our health care system overall is in need of an overhaul, dismantling the ACA, as some Republican candidates have tried to do, would do nothing to eliminate the inequities brought to light by the COVID-19 crisis or to protect the most vulnerable among us.