The COVID-19 pandemic has globally impacted life as we know it and threatened individuals and societies around the world. Consequently, many researchers have started addressing individuals’ fears, worries, and concerns during different stages of the virus outbreak. Our systematic literature review organizes fragmented lines of enquiry into an integrated framework to understand the content and consequences of COVID-19 threats for group dynamics and intergroup relations. Special attention was dedicated to ethno-racial, immigrant, and refugee minorities and their frailty in facing specific pandemic features. Gaining a differentiated understanding about the functionality of coping mechanisms for COVID-19 related threats can provide an image of the psychological costs associated with different strategies to combat virus spreading.