COVID-19 can affect anyone. But, for Latinos, the coronavirus pandemic is worsening health, social, and income inequities, and raising fears of disparities in disease rates, exposure, testing, and prevention. Here is our infographic in English and Spanish on eight of the biggest coronavirus issues facing Latinos:
1. COVID-19 Rates and Latinos
Early reports from hotbed areas, including New York City and Oregon, show higher COVID-19 incidence and death rates among Latinos. In other cities, African Americans show higher rates. RATES
2. COVID-19 Testing and Latinos
People with health insurance get tested for COVID-19 more frequently than those who don’t, even if tests are free, according to researchers. 19% of Latinos are uninsured. This is the worst coverage rate ...
Salud America! led a national webinar to show how our Salud America! Health Equity Report Card can help you visualize and explore place-based health inequities in your county, and build a case toward solutions during these difficult coronavirus times. The webinar, “How to Use Place-Based Data to Promote Health Equity During COVID-19 Pandemic,” took place at 2 p.m. ET Thursday, May 7, 2020. Webinar speakers explored: How inequities in housing, transportation, poverty, healthcare, and access to healthy food and safe places to be active, contribute to disparities in infectious and chronic disease.
How you can use the local data, interactive maps, and comparative gauges in the Salud America! Health Equity Report Card to identify health inequity issues in your county.
...
COVID-19 can affect anyone. But, in reality, it's worsening the health and social inequities facing U.S. Latinos. Now the pandemic is raising fears of racial/ethnic and income disparities in coronavirus exposure, testing, prevention via social distancing, and treatment. "As the number of cases rises, citizens are rightfully concerned about who is getting tested and who will receive treatment," writes health equity adviser Brian Williams in a column for the Dallas Morning News. "For those who exist on the margins of health care justice, access to life-saving treatment is never guaranteed."
Disparities in Coronavirus Exposure
We know Latinos are more likely than their white peers to suffer from poverty, underlying conditions, and a lack of quality housing and transit. They also ...
Elva Yañez—with her neighbors and allies—waged a campaign that has lasted over 15 years to preserve one of the last unprotected open green spaces in her Northeast Los Angeles community of El Sereno. Before working on healthy equitable land use issues, she worked in tobacco control. When she recognized similarities in the way tobacco companies and land developers fought to protect private interests from government regulation, she began using tobacco control tactics to fight for environmental justice. With the help of others, she led an effort to stop one particularly harmful residential development in her community that had serious public health and safety consequences. Throughout the campaign she knew she wanted to go upstream and address the systemic conditions that allowed ...
Time and again, statistics go to show that communities of color, including Latinos, face a rampant and widespread lack of access to quality healthcare. In this state of emergency that the U.S. faces with the outbreak of the current novel coronavirus, COVID-19, those disadvantages are worse than ever. Disadvantaged groups currently, and will continue to, experience burdens in receiving, affording, and managing medical treatment as the virus continues to spread. “Crises such as H1N1 and COVID-19 provide a mirror for our society and the actions we take — or fail to take,” writes Dr. Richard E. Besser, the president, and chief executive of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, in the Washington Post. “Today, the United States in that mirror is one in which the risk of exposure ...
Everyone deserves a safe and reliable way to get to healthy food—whether a supermarket, corner store, food bank, farmers market, or community garden. Unfortunately, many Latinos and people in low-income communities, rural communities, and communities of color are disproportionately burdened by long and unreliable commutes, as well as unsafe routes to nutritious food. That’s why the Safe Routes to Healthy Food Task Force worked for two years to refine the concept of safe routes to healthy food. Now they’ve released a new report with policy implications, opportunities, and recommendations. “This collaboration demonstrated that improving access to healthy foods for people without cars can be improved by a variety of sectors, including: transportation, healthy food access, ...
Updated 7/15/21 For more than a year, the COVID-19 pandemic has afflicted many. In the U.S., certain local, state governments declared lock-downs and stay-in-place quarantines — efforts geared at limiting the spread of the novel COVID-19. Then lock-downs reopened, then locked down again as cases rose. Across the world, cases and deaths continue, as does public health responses, including vaccines. Governments, businesses, and people continue to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic. Latinos are experiencing worsening health inequities, disparities in exposure, testing, prevention and treatment, and job impact. Latinos are experiencing disproportionately more cases and deaths, too. As equitable vaccine distribution becomes the focus, Latinos aren't getting enough ...
Traffic fatality rates—in decline for 50 years—are rising again. Why? Not enough effort to get vehicles off the road, traffic safety experts say. Reducing vehicle travel can boost safety. It has many social, environmental, and health benefits, too, especially for Latinos who face many transportation barriers. Yet historical transportation planning had misplaced focus in four keys area: vehicle throughput to sprawling areas, vehicle travel safety over transportation system safety, vehicle safety over roadway safety, and reducing high-risk driving over all driving. Here is a breakdown of each issue, and why we desperately need reform.
1. Historical Focus on Vehicle Throughput to Sprawling Areas
What is sprawl? Reid Ewing, a nationally recognized transportation-planning ...
Decades of decisions fueled by structural racism have built a society with no health equity, where many groups lack a fair, just opportunity to be their healthiest. This is especially true in our transportation system. Past and present planning, policy, and funding decisions have failed to provide equitable, affordable, safe, convenient, and reliable transportation options for all, from the local to federal levels. Dismantling these inequities requires intentional effort. That’s why Smart Growth America conducted a field scan to explore promising opportunities to achieve equitable public infrastructure, with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The report spells out the six biggest challenges to health equity facing our transportation system (and the 40 ...
