{"id":13319,"date":"2023-08-08T14:58:46","date_gmt":"2023-08-08T14:58:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/?p=13319"},"modified":"2023-08-08T14:58:46","modified_gmt":"2023-08-08T14:58:46","slug":"latinos-face-crisis-upon-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/?p=13319","title":{"rendered":"Latinos Face Crisis Upon Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Often in \u201cessential\u201d but low-paid jobs, they are falling ill and suffering financially at disproportionately high rates.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

by Jorge Ramos<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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With decades of effort and dedication, Arturo Morales built a life for himself in the United States. In a matter of days, the coronavirus nearly destroyed it all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His wife, Besabed Rom\u00e1n, died on April 1 of Covid-19<\/a>. Originally from Mexico, Mr. Morales, 52, has no job and no savings. Tuberculosis, which he suffered from as a young man, left him with only one lung, leaving him particularly vulnerable to the disease. His sole hope is that he won\u2019t become infected as his wife did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I spoke to him recently, Mr. Morales, who lives in Chicago, described how his wife became sick. Ms. Rom\u00e1n, who had a leg amputated because of diabetes complications, went to a local medical clinic on March 20 for a diabetes checkup. \u201cThere, a man was screaming that he had coronavirus,\u201d Mr. Morales told me. \u201cShe began to feel ill, like she was short of breath. \u2026 The next day, she was really struggling to breathe \u2026 and we took her to the hospital, but they didn\u2019t let us in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was the last time Mr. Morales saw his wife. \u201cWe said goodbye over the phone,\u201d he said, crying. \u201cThey put her on speaker so that she could listen to us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Morales family tragedy<\/a> \u2014 Ms. Rom\u00e1n is also survived by the couple\u2019s four daughters and one son \u2014 is obviously not unique. But Latinos are disproportionately suffering from the economic and health effects of Covid-19. The pandemic has highlighted the serious health issues that prevail in America\u2019s Latino community \u2014 including diabetes<\/a>, hypertension<\/a> and obesity<\/a> \u2014 as well as the social inequalities that continue to weigh on Latinos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The disparity in the extent of the damage caused by the virus is a matter of life and death for Latinos. And yet the Trump administration hasn\u2019t appointed a Spanish-speaking official specifically to address the Latino community during the crisis, nor has it created a Spanish-language website about the virus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only thing the government has done for the community is to translate the White House\u2019s guidelines for preventing mass contagion into Spanish \u2014 though it did so several days after<\/a> the release of the English version. Mr. Trump has treated the more than 37 million Spanish speakers<\/a> in the country as if they don\u2019t exist. Latinos don\u2019t have anyone in the White House, like Dr. Deborah Birx or Dr. Anthony Fauci, to tell them what\u2019s going on in their own language. They are the forgotten. That\u2019s why so many Latinos have been forced to rely on Spanish-language media for their survival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The situation in New York City is illustrative. There, Latinos represent 34 percent of Covid-19 deaths<\/a>, according to data released early last month, even though they account for only 29 percent of the city\u2019s population. No other ethnic group has suffered a higher percentage of fatalities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Latinos have higher contagion risk factors than other groups. Many of them work in sectors that have been considered \u201cessential\u201d during the crisis, including the meat-processing industry<\/a>, that leave them prone to infection. Latinos make up roughly 23 percent<\/a> of the agricultural and fishing work force. They put food on our tables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet they have very few protections. In California, the state that produces the most food in the nation, nearly 14 percent <\/a>of Latinos don\u2019t have health insurance, as is the case for 28 percent<\/a> of Hispanics and Latinos in the Bronx and 71 percent<\/a> in Miami. Health insurance is virtually nonexistent<\/a> among undocumented immigrants in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is particularly dangerous for a community with an active presence of chronic, and often silent, health conditions like diabetes and hypertension. According to a study from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, 71 percent of Hispanic women and Latinas and 80 percent of Hispanic and Latino men<\/a> are likely to have at least one cardiovascular disease. And nearly four in 10 Hispanics and Latinos<\/a> with diabetes were unaware they had it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The coronavirus pandemic has created a perfect storm for Latino communities. In addition to being more vulnerable to the coronavirus \u2014 due to the prevalence of pre-existing medical conditions and relative lack of health insurance \u2014 Latinos in the millions now find themselves without jobs or financial resources. Roughly one in three Latino families \u2014 35 percent \u2014 have experienced a job loss in the household, according to a Latino Decisions-SOMOS survey<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recovering from this double crisis won\u2019t be easy \u2014 particularly if Latinos don\u2019t receive help from the federal government. The omission<\/a> of the country\u2019s approximately 10.5 million undocumented immigrants<\/a> from the nation\u2019s coronavirus aid program was an unbelievable cruelty. Many of these immigrants have children born in the United States. Immigrant farmworkers<\/a>, who risk their lives every day, are considered \u201cessential\u201d laborers. Yet they are barred from receiving government aid because they don\u2019t have legal documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, California, which sometimes acts as an anti-Trump haven for migrants, last month announced<\/a> that approximately 150,000 undocumented immigrants in the state would receive aid totaling $125 million. Each adult is entitled to $500, with a $1,000 maximum per family. \u201cThey\u2019re our brothers and sisters. They\u2019re the people who are helping mom and dad,\u201d Gov. Gavin Newsom told me. \u201cTen percent of our work force is undocumented. Half of our children in California were born to immigrant parents. It\u2019s a matter of great pride for us. They are essential. They are extremely important.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This program helps the most vulnerable immigrants of all. But the truth is we\u2019re going to need a lot more than good intentions to solve a structural problem that has put the Latino community in extreme danger, medically and economically, amid the pandemic. Aid programs like California\u2019s can have an immediate and positive effect on the Latino community. Sadly, I don\u2019t see similar efforts elsewhere in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next years won\u2019t be easy. The virus has reversed the progress made in combating unemployment and poverty among Latinos. Families like Mr. Morales\u2019s have lost almost everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His wife used to cook the red and green tamales that the couple sold in Chicago to pay the rent and buy food. But after her sudden death, Mr. Morales has been left without a partner and without income.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRight now, my daughters and many people have supported us,\u201d he told me before saying goodbye, as he breathed with the help of an oxygen tank and wiped away tears. \u201cThey have brought us food and a little money too.\u201d Locked in his house, Mr. Morales can only hope the virus spares his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jorge Ramos (@jorgeramosnews<\/a>) is an anchor for the Univision network, a contributing Opinion writer for teh NY Times and the author of, most recently, \u201cStranger:<\/a> The Challenge of a Latino Immigrant in the Trump Era.\u201d<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Often in “essential” but low-paid jobs, they are falling ill and suffering financially at disproportionately high rates. by Jorge Ramos With decades of effort and dedication, Arturo Morales built a life for himself in the […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13320,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[86],"class_list":{"0":"post-13319","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-culture","8":"tag-culture"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13319"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13321,"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13319\/revisions\/13321"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinosreadytovote.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}