How Covid-19 Impacts the Minority Community

Edited by Catherine Verdeflor

The pandemic will forever be marked down in history. Lockdowns, wearing masks, social distancing, and quarantining have become part of people's daily routines. However, though historical, Covid-19 has brought a lot of suffering into our world. Economic instability and the loss of loved ones has made this pandemic a rough situation for many people. Unfortunately, the minority community received the short end of the stick as they have been challenged through isolation and testing.

Large families can be seen quite often among people of color. As a person of color myself, I come from a family filled with many aunts, uncles, cousins, and second cousins. My mother was raised in a household of twenty people — her immediate family and some of her extended family. Having a large family can be enjoyable. It means lots of entertainment, laughter, visits, traveling, and spending time with people you cherish. However, if you live in a large household during a pandemic, that can be a problem. According to Wen and Sadeghi, when analyzing Californian citizens, a study showed that "18.4 percent of Latino families live in overcrowded housing compared to 2.4 percent of white households"; furthermore, it was also "found that home overcrowding is correlated with a higher death rate from COVID-19" (2020, para. 13). Though unfortunate, the results are quite understandable. Living in a large household makes it challenging to quarantine, especially for 14 days. Not only is avoiding loved ones difficult, but there are individuals who live in large households that need to provide for the family, whether it is going grocery shopping or cooking dinner. Thus, interaction with others in quarantine is almost inevitable, and as such, more people get infected.

How can we combat this issue? If you are at home when a family member is going through isolation, try to provide more assistance in their absence. Please support their efforts through being in charge of chores, such as groceries, or apply for programs that help quarantining-individuals. Examples of supplying aid include applying to grocery delivery programs, providing medication delivery assistance, selecting delivery when ordering from restaurants, telemedicine, or doing more online shopping. Though simple, this makes quarantining easier and safer for everyone.

When living in a large family, financial difficulties can feel unavoidable. With so many mouths to feed and so many people to provide for, this is understandable. However, during a pandemic, this puts impoverished minorities and minorities with large families at a significant disadvantage. People of color are those most hit by Covid-19. Therefore, they deserve more accommodating options for Covid-19 testing. Of course, changes have been made. For example, during March of this year, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act was passed, which put an end to "cost-sharing for 'COVID-19 testing-related service[s]' for those with private insurance and granted states the option to cover costs for uninsured patients'' (Wen & Sadeghi, 2020, para. 9). Also, insurers extended the availability of Covid-19 testing in more areas due to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. However, this is not enough. Test shortages cause workers to give out non-Covid tests that aren't as effective. Moreover, testing, especially with large families, causes minorities to have expensive medical bills, long waiting times decrease the patience and willingness to get tests, and poor management in testing centers slow the line and make the wait even more intolerable. The federal government must lessen the chances of Covid-test shortages, make tests more effective and cheaper, and improve testing-sites' management. Also, the federal government must reduce wait times, provide more service to those waiting in line, and look at solutions to high medical bills, specifically for uninsured minorities.

These issues that impact the minority community during the Covid-19 pandemic are only the tip of the iceberg. The minority community also needs more investment in public health and social determinants, equitable treatment, vaccine rollout — the list goes on and on. However, all these issues stem from one major problem — racial disparities in health care. Racial bias is evident and strong in our society and is, unfortunately, impacting people of color's health care during the pandemic negatively. By working to combat racial injustices in the medical field and doing our part to help minorities in our community, society can take a step forward in tearing down the racial barriers and prejudice between us.

References:

Washington State. (n.d.). [Untitled image individuals wearing a mask] [Drawing]. Tri-City Herald. https://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/coronavirus/article243857842.html

Wen, L. S., & Sadeghi, N. B. (20 July 2020) Addressing Racial Health Disparities In The COVID-19 Pandemic: Immediate And Long-Term Policy Solutions. Health Affairs, Retrieved December 9, 2020 from www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20200716.620294/full/