Articles by Amanda Merck

2020 Traffic Death Rates Have Gone Up

September 11, 2020

Although people have been driving less since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the traffic death rate has gone up. Technically, absolute traffic deaths have decreased. But when you factor in the drop in vehicle miles traveled, people are being killed on our roads at a higher rate. Experts blame higher travel speeds due to emptier roads. MARCH 2020 UPDATE: Motor vehicle death rate up 24% in 2020 compared to 2019—the biggest increase in 96 years—despite drops in miles driven, according to the National Safety Council. People Are Driving Less Coronavirus took a major toll on health, especially for Latinos. But the virus also forced lockdowns and isolation across the country, slowing the economy and travel. Travel on roads and streets dropped 25.7% in May 2020, compared to May ...

#SaludTues Tweetchat 9/8: Juntos, We Can Stop COVID-19!

September 1, 2020

COVID-19 continues to disproportionately impact Latinos, killing over 33,000 and hospitalizing many more. To improve Latino health, we must take action to slow the spread of coronavirus. But how do you communicate this issue to Latinos amid misinformation and information overload? Culturally relevant fact sheets, infographics, and video role model stories to inform and urge Latino families to take action to help slow the spread of coronavirus. Let’s use #SaludTues on Sept. 8, 2020, to Tweet about the #JuntosStopCOVID campaign to make sure Latinos and all people know what they can do to slow the spread of COVID-19. WHAT: #SaludTues Tweetchat: “Juntos, We Can Stop COVID-19” TIME/DATE: 1-2 p.m. EST Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2020 WHERE: On Twitter with hashtag ...

For COVID-19 Recovery, Invest in People and Places

August 24, 2020

Helping families recover from the economic impact of COVID-19 requires far more than a paycheck, particularly when already underfunded social services and transit agencies face budget cuts. To build resilience after COVID-19, cities need to invest in people and in places. More specifically, cities need to build a community-based workforce to ramp up social services, and cities need to invest in affordable transportation options. Cities Face More Than COVID-19 Economic Devastation The economic fallout from COVID-19 is real for cities and families, particularly for Latinos, who were already drastically underpaid compared to white workers. Beyond unequal pay, Latino and low-income families face a legacy of discriminatory policies and practices that have resulted in unaffordable ...

Building a Community-Based Workforce to Address COVID-19 Recovery, Public Safety

August 17, 2020

meeting community-based social workers amid covid-19

Too many social support tasks fall to armed police officers. As local leaders discuss COVID-19 recovery plans, they need to consider how to address these social support issues in tandem with economic issues. Many cities are exploring how to reform or reimagine police. This often includes partnering with community-based social, behavioral, and mental health services. However, community partners may lack capacity for city-wide change. That’s why cities need to build a community-based workforce to coordinate community development, help families recover from the pandemic’s economic fallout, and reform police, simultaneously. Expensive Spending on Traditional Policing Public safety is a major city expense. Of the 50 largest cities, spending on police accounts for the ...

2 States Are Expanding Medicaid amid COVID-19 Surge

August 10, 2020

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As of June 2020, 14 U.S. states continued to reject Medicaid expansion, leaving many without an affordable healthcare coverage option. Then COVID-19 hit—hardest among low-income, uninsured families, particularly Latinos. In response to surging coronavirus cases, Oklahoma (11.1% Latino), the state with the second-highest uninsured rates, voted to expand Medicaid on July 1, 2020. A month later on Aug. 4, Missouri (4.4% Latino) also voted to expand Medicaid. In these two states alone, roughly 430,000 low-income adults will be eligible for Medicaid. “The American Heart Association supports expanding Medicaid because people living with low incomes are disproportionately affected by heart disease, hypertension, and stroke. Medicaid serves as the coverage backbone for the ...

A National Museum of the American Latino is Closer Than Ever

August 5, 2020

On July 27, 2020, the U.S. House unanimously approved a bill authorizing the Smithsonian Institution to build a National American Latino Museum. Introduced by New York Representative José Serrano and co-sponsored by 295 democrats and republicans, the museum will join 11 other Smithsonian museums along the National Mall in Washington D.C., such as the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the National Museum of the American Indian. A companion bill for the Latino museum was introduced in the Senate in May 2019. “Spanish was the first non-native language to be spoken in the United States,” said Texas Democratic Rep. and chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Joaquin Castro, according to The Texan. “Latinos have fought in every U.S. war. Food and ...

3 New Ways to Fix Our Failed Approach to Speed Limits

July 29, 2020

American cities are failing at traffic safety—largely due to unsafe speeds. Urban arterials—roads that link major activity centers and highways—accounted for 29% of all U.S. fatal crashes between 2014 and 2018, despite making up only 6% of roadways. That’s why the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) developed City Limits, a framework for setting safe speed limits for city streets and providing strategies to manage speed. “Most speeds limits are set using an oversimplified and outdated method: measure 100 drivers traveling without any traffic and set the speed limit based on the 15th-fastest driver,” said Jenny O’Connell, NACTO Program Manager, according to a NACTO press release. “If this sounds like a system that would create ...

Without Safeguards, SNAP Online Food Purchases Could Threaten Participants’ Privacy, Undermine their Health

July 23, 2020

Before COVID-19, families with SNAP federal food aid could not use their electronic benefits transfer (EBT) cards to buy groceries online. They had to go to into stores and risk infection. The good news is 37 states now have a SNAP online food purchasing programs. The bad news is that those online purchasing programs could “expose [SNAP] participants to increased data collection and surveillance, a flood of intrusive and manipulative online marketing techniques, and pervasive promotion of unhealthy foods,” according to the Center for Digital Democracy. The Center’s new report explains how federal and state policies fail to protect consumers against unhealthy food marketing, threatening the health of SNAP families. The report also recommends regulatory safeguards, industry ...

Cities Need to Drastically Scale Up Contact Tracing to Slow Coronavirus Spread

July 15, 2020

For months now, health leaders have asked Americans to flatten the COVID-19 curve by behaving as if they have been exposed─stay home, stop hanging out with friends and family, avoid public places like gyms and bars, and wear a mask when around others. This individual behavior is needed to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. But, at the same time, public health departments must do their part, too. They are responsible for “contact tracing”─contacting people who have tested positive for COVID-19 and those in close contact with them to give them critical information to slow disease spread: understand the possibility that they could spread the infection to others even if they themselves do not feel ill; understand what they should do to monitor themselves for ...

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Amanda Merck

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