Over the past year, COVID-19 has altered lives across racial, gender and class lines, and while these effects have been felt by many, COVID-19 brings disparate effects for communities of color.
Studies have shown the way that economic, medical and social factors have resulted in communities of color being disproportionately affected by the continued spread of COVID-19.
According to data gathered by the Centers for Disease Control, when compared to the white non-Hispanic community, Hispanic and Latino persons have a case rate ratio of 1.6, a hospitalization rate ratio of 2.5 and a death rate ratio of 2.1. Heightened numbers are also true of the black community which has an equal case rate ratio when compared to the white community but has a hospitalization ratio of 2.6 and a death ratio of 1.9.
The ratios for American Indian and Alaska Natives were among the highest that the CDC recorded, with a case rate ratio of 1.6, a hospitalization rate ratio of 3.3, and a death rate ratio of 2.2.
Non-Hispanic Asian persons were the only recorded racial/ethnicity group to have rate ratios that were below the white, non-Hispanic community.
University of Idaho reference librarian Rochelle Smith said that the higher proportion of marginalized racial and ethnic groups working in frontline positions was a key factor driving these medical disparities.
“We’re more likely to be frontline workers, people who couldn’t shelter in place and stay home at the beginning of (the pandemic) because they couldn’t afford to do that and they didn’t have the kind of jobs where would be paid to work from home,” Smith said.
According to the Center for Economic Policy Research, black workers have historically had a disproportionate likelihood of being employed in frontline positions when compared to white workers. Current data shows that 29.7% of black workers are in frontline industries, compared to 19.2% of white workers in the same field.
In addition to the type of employment, communities of color also face additional challenges because of multigenerational housing environments. The U.S. Census Bureau defines multigenerational households as households containing three or more generations.
UI Clinical Associate Professor Lynda Freeman said that the greater likelihood of living in multigenerational housing among communities of color is another contributing factor that worsens transmission and makes self-isolation far more difficult.
A Pew Research study found that one-in-five Americans live in multigenerational housing. Asians have the highest multigenerational housing percentage at 29%, while Hispanic and Black households have similar numbers at 27% and 26% respectively. White Americans have the lowest multigenerational housing rate at 16%.
In 2021, that number has increased to over 66 million, roughly one-in-four adults.
On the other hand, the social impacts of COVID-19 are also a heightened concern in communities of color. UI Clinical Associate Professor Lynda Freeman said that, within communities of color, there already exists a degree of isolation that is not shared by white society. When the isolation necessitated by the pandemic is added onto this, it brings mental health concerns that need to be addressed.
One of the challenges is having access to mental healthcare providers that have a level of cultural competency, Freeman said, adding that she has had to look to Boise herself in order to find a professional that best suited her mental health needs.
Citing her own experience, Freeman said she had to look to Boise for a mental health professional that met her needs.
Smith said that for UI, making these mental health services available to faculty and staff of color is especially important since students of color often turn to them when they are seeking support. While Smith acknowledged that the university has been making positive strides to be more accommodating, highlighting the Black Student Union’s 50-year anniversary, she said that more would need to be done to bring the university more in line with its institutional peers.
“I would like to see more of that kind of support and safe space creation which I think a lot of other universities are ahead of UI in doing things like that,” Smith said.
Beyond building better systems for inclusivity, Smith also noted that she hopes to see a cultural shift despite the personal and shared difficulties that come with COVID-19.
“I’m hoping that we, as a culture, move towards more empathy for one another,” Smith said. “I think in a lot of ways that is happening … as we get better at talking about death and talking about loss and talking about inequity.”
Royce McCandless can be reached at [email protected] or Twitter @roycemccandless