Latino and Black people will suffer significant financial problems that could lead to an increase in homelessness if U.S. leaders fail to pass a COVID-19 relief bill this week, experts say. The spring 2020 stimulus package is set to expire at the end of the week, prompting Congress to debate over a $900 Billion pandemic relief bill that will give stimulus checks, pause evictions and student loans, and provide further unemployment insurance. Leaders hope to find a solution by the end of the week. If they don’t, Latinos and Black people could suffer the most, including a rise in homelessness. “The pandemic has hit communities of color harder than white Americans, and the population of homeless Black Americans and Latinos will only increase if there is no emergency federal ...
COVID-19 has been a force in our lives for the last 10 months. At this point, we know the standard procedures for safety precautions, like wearing a mask, keeping physical distance, and avoiding crowded public spaces. We’ve even started administering a vaccine to healthcare workers and the elderly, with the FDA emergency-use authorization of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine this past weekend. But despite all this, the pandemic still isn’t over. COVID-19 cases are spiking in many areas across the country as people move events indoors due to colder weather and are travelling more for the holidays. Not to mention pandemic fatigue. Another big safety concern is using “system justification” to ignore safety precautions. This happens when people rationalize unsafe behaviors ...
COVID-19 isn't only disproportionately infecting and killing Latinos and causing job loss and stress. The pandemic is also hurting Latino-owned businesses. These businesses, which already face bias and racism when it comes to securing financing, have fewer resources to weather the ongoing storm of the pandemic, according to a report by the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative. In fact, 41% of Black-owned businesses, 32% of Latino-owned businesses, and 17% of White-owned businesses across the country shut down between February and April, according to a recent study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the CT Mirror reports. Thankfully, some new programs and initiatives aim to help businesses owned by Latinos and other people of color.
A $5 Billion Program to Support ...
Does someone smoke in your apartment complex? You might be inhaling your neighbor's secondhand smoke. Inside multifamily dwellings, secondhand smoke can travel through doorways, halls, windows, ventilation systems, electrical outlets, and gaps around fixtures and pipes. Secondhand smoke, already a cancer-causing killer of millions, also might contribute to the spread of coronavirus. While there is no definitive link as of yet, there is enough scientific understanding of how particles travel to cause concern that smoke from cigarettes, cigars, and other tobacco products could be transferring COVID-19, said Dr. Loren Wold, a researcher at The Ohio State University. “We know that the virus can attach to particles and can travel three, four, or five times farther than they ...
Volunteering for Christmas and New Year’s helps other people and is proven to give the volunteer an emotional boost, too. So why not volunteer your “voice”? Speak up with these seven actions to promote health equity for Latino and all families this holiday season!
1. Share Messages to Slow the Spread of COVID-19
COVID-19 continues to disproportionately impact Latinos. As Latinos, we are resilient. But part of our resiliency requires action to slow the spread of COVID-19! That’s why Salud America! at UT Health San Antonio launched the “Juntos, We Can Stop COVID-19” digital communication campaign in English and Spanish to help Latino families and workers take action to slow the spread of coronavirus. The #JuntosStopCovid campaign features culturally relevant and ...
When schools closed down and switched to online learning at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, some students began falling behind in class. The students most affected? Latino and Black children. Several studies measured testing scores in math and reading for elementary school students in Fall 2020 compared to Fall 2019. A report by the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) found that while some students are improving, Latino and Black students are falling behind their white peers. “While a majority of students did better than expected in reading — scoring at levels similar to typical nonpandemic years — this wasn’t true for Black and Hispanic students and those who attend high-poverty schools,” according to NBC News. The trend is concerning as it highlights the ...
Did you know that 1 of 2 Latino kids have cavities in their teeth? More Latino children and young adults ages 2-19 have cavities (57%) than their Black (48%), Asian (45%), and White (40%) peers. Cavities are not the only dental health disparity facing Latino children, either. They experience high rates of untreated tooth decay, poor rates of dental health care coverage, and more. “While the gaps have narrowed for some indicators, they have widened for many others, and equity in oral health status remains elusive. We can and should do better,” Dr. Scott Tomar of the University of Florida College of Dentistry, who analyzed 2019 CDC data, told Pew Charitable Trusts. To get to the bottom of oral health among Latino children, we first have to understand the disparities, the ...
Since childhood, Christina Duarte has wanted to help people. Helping people is why she became chief of health education and promotion for the Health Department of Laredo, Texas, a predominantly Latino city on the U.S.-Mexico border. When the coronavirus pandemic struck, Duarte immediately looked for ways to help her community, which struggled with disparities in COVID-19 case and death rates. So Duarte shifted the city’s in-person health classes to a virtual platform to help those at home during the height of the coronavirus quarantine. “Our participants continued to ask, ‘are you even going to have classes again? My mental health is at stake,’” she said. “Then the numbers increased. We started working on mental health preparedness here at the health department. ...
The CVS Health Foundation, American Heart Association, Alliance for a Healthier Generation have launched a new initiative to help reduce vaping in schools. The Tobacco-Free Schools Initiative gives schools resources that focus on positive reinforcement for tobacco cessation and prevention, rather than traditional forms of punishment. Addressing the rise in vaping and e-cigarette use for young people is urgent. “Youth vaping is one of the biggest obstacles we face in helping to create the first tobacco-free generation,” said Eileen Howard Boone, SVP of Corporate Social Responsibility and Philanthropy, CVS Health and President, CVS Health Foundation, in a press release. “Coming together with the American Heart Association and Healthier Generation allows us to support ...
