A steady stream of research has shown that vulnerable communities in the United States are most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and a new study reveals an incredible inequality among a specific group in California.
Researchers at the University of Southern California have found Spanish immigrants of working age, aged 20 to 54, are 11.6 times more likely to die from the virus than non-Hispanic men and women born in the United States. If we look at the Spanish Americans of the same age who were born both in the United States and abroad, the mortality rate was 8.5 times that of whites.
Among black men and women aged 20 to 54, the mortality rate from coronavirus was almost five times that of whites.
These numbers are much higher than those of the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, which indicates that Hispanics in the U.S. are 2.3 times more likely to die from the virus and that blacks are 1.9 times more likely than whites .
“We have all known since the beginning of the pandemic when the numbers came up that there are different effects for different groups, and we have seen this especially for black and Hispanic individuals,” said Erika Garcia, an assistant professor of preventive medicine at the Keck school, said. or Medicine of USC and the lead author of the study. “We could not divide it by age group as follows. Although we think there would be differences, we did not expect it to be that large. With a ratio, the number differences are much larger among these younger workers. Age individuals, especially you see it for both black and Hispanic individuals. ‘
According to Garcia and her co-authors, the study is a call for government officials and public health departments to target vaccinations and treatments on a demographic that forms the backbone of the state’s agricultural and service industry, ‘according to a statement on the study. of USC. .
For the study, published in the Annals of Epidemiology on March 29, researchers analyzed the death certificates of 10,200 people who died from COVID in California from February 1 to July 31, 2020. “Data on death certificates, rather than data from the hospital system or insurance company, allowed the researchers to capture COVID deaths among historically marginalized groups, including immigrants, who may be under-represented in health care or insurance systems,” the statement said.
The characteristics most commonly observed in individuals were 65 years or older, foreign-born, male, Spanish, and educational in high school or elementary.
Garcia said the differences were more important among younger Asians / Pacific Islanders, Blacks, Hispanics and whites when they looked at age group data more closely.
Although the study did not identify the reason for the differences, Garcia said she and the other study authors substantiated the hypothesis based on other research that blacks and working-age Spaniards are more likely to work in service industries. which requires them to leave their homes daily, often for work that exposes them to a large number of other people. Hispanics are also more likely to work in agricultural jobs.
“Within each of the groups, there are differences in risks, and risk factors may differ between blacks and Hispanics and men and women,” she said. “A lot has to do with living conditions, and if there are more people living in a house. People who have to leave the house for work run a higher risk and working conditions and public transport must also play into it. The risk factor for COVID is higher if you have to get in touch with more people. ‘
Jon Jacobo, chairman of the health committee for the San Francisco-based Task Force, was not entirely surprised by the results of the study, though he said he was surprised by the difference between Hispanics and whites in working age.
“The number did appear to be slightly higher than I expected,” Jacobo said, “we know the national average is 2.3 times higher. This is exactly in line with the pain we saw in the front lines. “
Jacobo said the study highlights the pain Hispanics are experiencing in Central Valley agricultural work hammered out by the pandemic. The Task Force is assisting with the COVID effort in Planada, a small farming community of 4,500 people west of Merced.
“We talked to people here who tested positive in their farm work, and then they have to drive two hours and pay between $ 200 and $ 300 for a test to prove they are negative before going back to work,” he said. . ‘These were some of the stories that were shared with us and that were painful for us to listen to. You think of the inequalities and access to resources among these farm workers who support all the food that comes into our homes and to the tables. ‘
He also noted that Spanish people have not been hit harder because of individual choices, but because of systems and policies that have long existed.
“It’s not that we do not know how to wear masks,” he said. “It’s not that we do not follow CDC leadership. And it’s not that we do not think it’s real, because we actually know that it’s more than anyone’s real because our community has been hit so hard. That’s the legacy. of racist policies “that were enacted with the founding of this country and are still being pursued today. ‘