African Americans and Latinos Alike Hit Hard by COVID-19
There’s a saying now that the novel coronavirus sweeping the globe doesn’t discriminate and that all of us are vulnerable.
But that’s not really true — some are distinctly more vulnerable than others.
In the past few weeks, data has emerged showing that Black communities are getting hit hardest by the virus, with hospitalization and deaths are running nearly three times the share of African Americans in the population. It’s a pattern that is disconcerting but not surprising given the many ways African Americans have been systematically neglected and excluded by the American project.
Not far behind are Latinos, although that pattern can sometimes be a bit harder to see. For example, a recent article in The Guardian highlighted that Latinos had disproportionately worse rates of infection or hospitalizations in Utah, Oregon, and Washington. That same article also noted that in Latino-rich California, Hispanics made up a disproportionately smaller share of deaths.
But aggregate figures may be misleading. For example, we know that COVID-19 is associated with age and in California, the Latino population is much younger than other racial and ethnic groups. If we focus just on the population aged 18–49, Latinos are 44 percent of that population but constitute half the cases and 65 percent of the deaths.
African Americans are still most at risk: In the same age California group, Black people are 6 percent of the population but 15 percent of the deaths. But Latinos — both in terms of the disease and the economic aftermath –are also likely to endure long lasting effects from the pandemic..
To begin with, if they do get sick, Latinos are less likely than whites to be able to get care. One factor is low health insurance rates. According to the most recent version of the American Community Survey, 18 percent of Latinos did not have any type of health insurance — public or private — compared to 6 percent of non-Hispanic whites and 11 percent of African Americans.
Moreover, with a significant presence of the undocumented in the Latino community, many may not see a doctor even if they can. The current administration has incited widespread panic among immigrants — from threatening to end DACA, to the “Muslim Ban,” to the ongoing actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). As a result, a simple act like going to the hospital is something to be done only under dire circumstances, lest one be deported or expose a family member to authorities.
On the economic side, a report from the Pew Research Center published in early April found that 49 percent of Latinos — compared to 33 percent of all US adults — said they or someone in their household had taken a pay cut, lost a job (or both) because of the pandemic. Given the presence of Latinos in service industries such as restaurants and retail, this is also unsurprising. A Latinos Decision Poll reported in Newsweek found that 29 percent of small business owners have closed their business or are struggling. It also found that only half of Latino households had $500 or more in savings for emergencies. The bottom line is that harder hit will mean harder to come back.
And remember how Latinos are younger? For many Latino millennials, this is not the first but the second recession they are facing in an age of an ever widening income divide, skyrocketing college costs and lingering debts, and lower home ownership rates.
As for those Latino immigrants without legal status, the current crisis requires trying to survive without a safety net. Such immigrants lack access to unemployment insurance — or a stimulus check since the rules exclude those who filed with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN)–the mechanism that undocumented immigrants employ to pay income tax.
Indeed, the CARES Act even excludes mixed-status couples if one joint filer in a couple had a social security number and other did not. In California, that means up to 700,000 of the state’s children who live in such households may be left to fend on their own.
Some may see highlighting racialized differences, and drawing important distinctions particular to the Latino experience as a way to further a sort of “Oppression Olympics.” But that’s not the point (and it’s also not a competition anyone wants to win). Rather, the issue is how best to consider the different ways in which Black and Latino (and also Native American) communities are bearing the brunt of the virus so that we can devise more effective and more nuanced solutions.
For Latinos, particularly immigrants, this means extending unemployment insurance and stimulus checks to ITIN holders as well as stopping the ICE raids that roil communities, whether immigrant or US-born. It means offering health insurance to close the gap in coverage, and addressing a digital divide that left so many Latino children disconnected when their states were forced to shift to remote education. It means supporting small entrepreneurs with real support, and ensuring that they are not last in line for loans and grants.
The coronavirus pandemic has thrown longstanding inequalities into stark relief. This gives us a rare opportunity to refashion our society and economy — to not just restart the old broken system that made so many so vulnerable to the virus but to make an America that is stronger and more resilient for everyone.
To do that, we will need to return to an old belief — sometimes rejected at the top levels of our politics — that good science and good data can further public and economic health. Now more than ever, that means understanding what is universal and what is distinct, and having the courage and wisdom to both recognize difference and embrace the common good.
