10/26/2020

Coronavirus Tracker: COVID-19’s Heavy Toll on Latinx Communities

Oct. 26, 2020

Current updates on association response to the global COVID-19 crisis, along with a roundup of conference, travel and business news and information.

COVID-19's Disproportionate Impact on LatinX Americans
It’s well known that COVID-19 has hit some groups harder than others. This week, in recognition of Hispanic Heritage Month, the American Medical Association is documenting its outsize effects on Latinx Americans in a new report.

Latinx COVID-19 Health Inequities: Insights for the Health Care Field compiles existing data showing the disproportionate impact of the virus on Latinx communities. For example, although Hispanics make up 18 percent of the U.S. population, they account for a third of new infections nationwide. And in some states, Hispanics are overrepresented among COVID-19 deaths.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has already more publicly exposed the persistent fundamental health inequities faced by Black and Brown communities, but this report uncovers just how dire the situation is in the Latinx community,” AMA Chief Health Equity Officer and Group Vice President Aletha Maybank, M.D., M.P.H., said in a press release. “In this critical moment, it is imperative that we confront inequities and dismantle racism in all its forms, so that marginalized and minoritized communities like the Latinx population no longer have to bear the brunt of this public health crisis.”

The report links Latinx Americans’ greater coronavirus vulnerability to structural issues like anti-immigration and restrictive health insurance policies, as well as their limited access to digital technologies that enable telehealth care and a lack of adequate multilingual public health resources.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Associations Now.