Without paid sick leave, too many Latinos are forced to choose between financial security and health. After all, just a few days of lost pay due to illness is the same as losing an entire month’s worth of groceries for some families, which fare worse during a pandemic like COVID-19. “For a typical Latino family without paid sick days, losing an average of 3.3 days due to sickness is equivalent to a family’s entire monthly health care budget or its monthly grocery budget,” according to a joint fact sheet from UnidosUS and National Partnership for Women & Families. This situation won’t just fix itself after the pandemic, either. “Lives are at stake when policies are not put in place from the top down to prevent the spread of disease or create healthy living ...
Dr. Amelie Ramirez, Director of Salud America! at UT Health San Antonio, and Rosalie Aguilar, National Project Coordinator, discussed some of the challenges U.S. Latinos face amid the COVID-19 pandemic, on a recent episode of The Nation's Health, The American Public Health Association (APHA) podcast. On the podcast, Ramirez and Aguilar talked about: How COVID-19 impacts U.S. Latinos differently
The important role language plays during a pandemic like COVID-19
Promoting health equity during the pandemic
What public health practitioners can do to close the gap and lessen the harmful impact on Latino communities Latinos already face a number of health disparities due to underlying inequities in poverty, access to quality and affordable housing, jobs, and ...
Use La Loteria to talk about health with your family amid COVID-19! La Loteria, a traditional game in Latino families, is a version of Bingo using pictures on cards instead of numbers. The National Alliance for Hispanic Health has created COVID-19 Bingo (La Loteria). The family game has pictures of social distancing, hand-washing, video calls, physical activity, healthy food, faith, hope, and more. "My daughter and I were playing La Loteria and we thought it might be a great way to help other kids understand COVID-19," said Edgar Gil Rico of the National Alliance for Hispanic Health. "So it became a family project resulting in a new version of Bingo (La Loteria) with tips for parents to use the game to discuss COVID-19 and what families can do to stay well and healthy." La ...
By Julie Moser
Military Spouse, Breast Cancer Advocate
Founder, Executive Director, PWATX October 28, 2013, is a date that will always be one that will be remembered without thinking about it. You know, like a birth date or wedding anniversary. October 28, 2013, is the day I became a survivor. When the doctor said the words: “You have cancer." On the early morning of my husband’s third deployment send-off, I noticed a brown line under my left breast after a shower. It looked like I had burned my skin with a curling iron. My husband said that it probably wasn’t a big deal as long as I didn’t feel any lumps. I didn’t tell him I felt something but told him that I would get it checked out later in the day with my primary care physician. My doctor found three ...
Millions of unauthorized, taxpaying immigrants will not receive any financial support from the U.S. government through its recent stimulus package. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act provided most Americans with $1,200—as well as an additional $500 for each child under 17—to provide some economic security in the wake of the pandemic. Still, undocumented residents who pay taxes using a taxpayer identification number did not receive any help. Worse, children in that household, whether they are American citizens or not, won't receive aide either — and these families are suing the government over this issue. "The refusal to distribute this benefit to U.S. citizen children undermines the CARES Act's goals of providing assistance to Americans in need, ...
Preparing for and overcoming any disaster, such as the current coronavirus pandemic, requires healthy and resilient communities. However, after age, obesity is the biggest risk factor for being hospitalized with COVID-19. And the U.S. has one of the highest obesity rates in the world, with drastic disparities among racial/ethnic groups, including the highest rates among Latinos. To beat COVID-19, we need healthier communities that prevent obesity and leaders who prioritize equitable access to healthy food, housing, and safe spaces to walk and bike instead of space for cars. “We in the U.S. have not always identified obesity as a disease, and some people think it’s a lifestyle choice. But it’s not,” said Dr. Matthew Hutter, director of the Weight Center at Massachusetts ...
Life as a Latino immigrant is stressful. Migration is difficult. Changing immigration rules make it hard to get health-promoting assets. Fear of deportation and family separation add anxiety. Now the COVID-19 pandemic is worsening social and environmental inequities. Who is looking out for the mental health of Latino immigrants? Informed Immigrant, Immigrants Rising, and FWD.us have a 10-step guide to help mental health care providers respond to the distress of immigrants whose status is in flux due to ongoing changes to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, amid coronavirus. "In addition to managing the stress and uncertainty surrounding the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, there are around 700,000 immigrant youth who may also be worried and distressed ...
As the U.S. Government continues to push back against the economic downturn and the spread of COVID-19, disadvantaged groups—such as Latinos—aren't receiving an equitable share. The recently passed $484 billion stimulus package will give millions of Americans and U.S. businesses with economic relief, in combination with past relief legislation. However, the money isn't reaching workers who need it the most, like Latino immigrants. "The survey only confirms what we already know, that the Paycheck Protection Program money went to Wall Street billionaires and very little of it trickled to the mom-and-pop shops and small businesses of America," LULAC National President Domingo García told NBC. "Lupita's taqueria or Juana's quinceañera shop didn't get money while Ruth's Chris ...
While the elderly are highly susceptible to the coronavirus COVID-19, young adults aren't off the hook, either. Almost 40% of U.S. coronavirus patients who were sick enough to need hospitalization were between the ages of 20 to 54, according to recent CDC data. "There seems to be this ethos that the virus is no big deal for young people," said Dr. Mark Pasternack, chief of the pediatric infectious disease unit at Massachusetts General Hospital, told the Newbury Press. "But it is a big deal because some young people are getting very sick and because they are also very serious vectors of disease spread."
Why Obesity and Coronavirus Outbreak is a Concern for Young People in the U.S.? Obesity may be one of the most important predictors of severe coronavirus illness among ...
