COVID-19 is Shedding Light on Systemic Inequities Affecting RI’s Latinx Populations

COVID-19 is Shedding Light on Systemic Inequities Affecting RI’s Latinx Populations

When COVID-19 initially reared its head we failed to take into account that the first countries affected by COVID-19 are more homogenous than the United States. Now that the virus has taken more than 40,000 American lives, we are reminded that there are systemic inequities built into the American way of life which affect communities of color disproportionately.

Employability and Essential Work

Rhode Island’s Latinx population is largely employed in industries that have been deemed essential or otherwise operable: manufacturing, janitorial services, grocery stores, healthcare, etc. While the rest of Rhode Island has been busy staying at home, this community has not. Ancillary issues such as immigration status also affect the rapidity with which this community may access benefits like TDI, stimulus checks, expanded unemployment benefits, etc.

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Social Distancing

The very ideas of social distancing and self-isolation are crouched in elitism. In Rhode Island, the majority of our Latinx population resides in the “urban core.” Many families live in apartments, in groups larger than five (5) people, and in situations which make social distancing extremely difficult. More importantly, those same living conditions make the idea of self-isolation for those with symptoms a near impossibility.

Underlying Health Issues

It is no secret that communities of color are plagued at a disproportionate rate by the very diseases which make individuals more susceptible to COVID-19’s most severe effects—obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure.

Poverty

Rhode Island’s Latinx community is also largely made up of the working poor. The percentage of Latinx families living in poverty in 2015 was roughly 36%. That feeds into other inequities that make compliance with government directives more difficult. For example, a lot of families rely heavily on laundromats to wash their clothes. How then is someone supposed to wash her face masks daily when she’s working 12-hour daily shifts and does not have access to a washer and dryer at home?

Access to Information

Government officials have been great about sharing information in Spanish, however, it is unknown whether that information is actually reaching those families that are most vulnerable. Most of the information provided in Spanish is provided in written form. But how do some Spanish speakers who are also illiterate receive this same information?

“Reopening the Economy”

Now that we know that somewhere in the vicinity of 45% of the positive tests have been performed on Latinx individuals, we need to ensure that we center the protection of this community when we talk about “reopening the economy.” This statistic (which could very well be an overestimation or underestimation as has been pointed out by Dr. Pablo Rodriguez) is likely the result of the amalgamation of the factors previously discussed. Those factors are the result of long-term structural inequities that COVID-19 has exposed. How we deal with this crisis and its aftermath will speak volumes regarding our treatment of vulnerable populations.

Joseph Molina Flynn is a family & immigration attorney with offices in Boston & Providence. He is the current president of the RI Latino Pac and the RI Latino Civic Fund.