Podcast transcript: US Hispanics struggling with greater challenges in face of COVID-19
Listen to this interview as a recording on our podcast page.
This is The Nation’s Health Podcast. I’m your host, Aaron Warnick, reporter for The Nation’s Health.
The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed life for everyone across the nation. But when it comes to health, the experience is not universal.
U.S. Hispanics are among those more greatly affected by the disease. A March survey from the Pew Research Center found that Hispanics — who are less likely to have health insurance and often work in service industries — were more concerned about threats to their health and finances than other Americans. And in April, half of Hispanics said they or someone in their household had taken a pay cut, lost their job or both because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Preliminary data has also shown that in some states, Hispanics make up a unequal proportion of coronavirus cases. In Connecticut, for example, Hispanics account for almost 25% of COVID-19 cases, but 16.5% of the state’s population. Even California, where they are the state’s largest population group, making up about 39% of residents, Hispanics account for almost 45% of cases.
To discuss the pandemic’s effect on U.S. Hispanics, I am joined by Amelie Ramirez and Rosalie Aguilar of Salud America.
Dr. Ramirez, how does COVID-19 impact Hispanics in the U.S. differently?
Ramirez: One of the things that we are noticing, just as you relayed, that the data that's coming out is showing that Hispanics and African Americans are being disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.
One of the reasons we think this is happening is our population, our Latino community, really has a lot of different co-morbidities that I think are making it more difficult perhaps to get the treatment that they need.
For example, we have higher rates of diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, asthma in our community, so that if they are impacted by COVID-19, their cases are probably more complicated because of that.
Beyond co-morbidities, are there any other circumstances that might be leading to the dipropionate impact of COVID-19 on U.S. Hispanics?
Ramirez: What we're seeing is also our community — a large portion of our community, about 27% of them — live in poverty and we have high uninsurance rates. They also are more likely to be in front-line type jobs where they are feeling they really can't take time away from going in and getting checked.
The percentage of individuals, I think, is about 16% of Latinos who can really kind of have jobs that allow them to work from home.
Therefore, their level of exposure is going to be higher. Many of them are working in high-contact jobs such as food, retail, hospitality — the ones that are in the hospital helping to clean up, different cleaning services, and things like that. They are around a lot of people and helping transport individuals. Many of these jobs don't allow them to have that physical distancing that is required. They are the ones that have to really be in the front lines for many things.
Aguilar: Just to add to that a little bit, I think it's kind of a combination of the factors that Dr. Ramirez mentioned already.
Just the fact that many of these workers are facing higher exposure and then coming home to their families where they may be living in multi- generational households. A lot of times, they are unable to self-isolate and so there could be a family situation where they are also at a higher risk of infection.
Ramirez: As Rosalie said, when they're coming back they have to really be cautious in terms of changing their clothing and so forth and participate in all of those hygiene efforts to reduce the risk of bringing the virus to their families.
What we're seeing is that a large portion of our families live in smaller housing in apartments. Sometimes they might have larger families or multiple families living in one residence.
So, again, that doesn't give them a lot of social distancing. They are used to being together. They want to see their families. They want to be united, so they will go by and check on each other and things like that.
Do either of you have other concerns with equity during this pandemic?
Ramirez: I think one of the things that you haven't had a chance to bring up, Aaron, is really the educational impact that this is having on our families, the digital divide.
Many of our families may not have access to computers and if they can't get access to the libraries for kids to complete their school assignments that has created an extra strain on our families. Also, some of our children might be receiving some of their breakfast and lunches at school. Those are additional hardships that families are facing and causing distress to our families.
Sometimes if there is a computer, there might only be one, so who gets on it first? If parents need it for work or if the kids need it for school those kinds of things, how do they make it accessible?
Aguilar: Right. There's also the issue of food insecurity and just having many families who rely on nutritional assistance.
What we are seeing is that some of them don't necessarily have an option of purchasing food online, like many others have been able to benefit from services like curbside services from grocery stores or other services that can deliver food right to their doorstep.
A lot of families might not have that option. They are relying on certain programs like SNAP and other nutritional assistance programs.
What role does language play during a public health emergency like this?
Ramirez: Language is very critical. We're seeing a larger portion of our families that Spanish might be their primary language. As you'll notice, there's not a whole lot of information out there available in Spanish and being available at a literacy level that is something that is easier to consume. Yes, they are hearing all the English language and some Spanish language media, but we certainly need to do more to get this information out to them.
What can people working in public health do to help close that care gap to lessen the damage the pandemic is having on the Hispanic community?
Ramirez: We need to do a better job improving access to care. Even if we had ample testing available this is a population group that would have little access or be on the tail end of accessing testing, again because of their inability to take time off from work to go get tested.
We definitely need to kind of work on our health care access, as well as decreasing the digital divide. Increasing access so they can have as much information as they need as other communities are being able to access.
We don't know at this point in time if our lower-income school districts, have they really been able to reach out to all their kids? How many of them are actually participating? Of those who haven't been participating, do we know anything about those kids? So, again, I think it's shining a light on our educational system as well.
Aguilar: Another issue is kind of the incidence of domestic violence. Many cities have also reported a significant increase in abuse and violence. At least 18 cities recently reported over a 35 increase. This is a result of just many families spending more time home together.
Then, of course, the stressors that a lot of parents are facing related to the economic situation and are depressed. Then the fact that we have these multi-generational households and sometimes even relatives outside of the nuclear family, maybe aunts or uncles living in the same household as several other children and families. That can also become an issue that really increases the risk for traumatic events. It's something as a public health community we need to be on the forefront.
We need to be working with individuals all across various sectors of education, of health, and just working to make sure these issues are addressed; law enforcement, giving these individuals the tools that they need to be able to keep an eye on that and make sure that families are safe, that children are also safe.
And with that, we thank our guests for their expertise.
For more information, visit www.SaludAmerica.org
And for more reporting on the pandemic, visit thenationshealth.org
Thank you for listening to The Nation’s Health Podcast.