Structural vulnerability to COVID-19 among Latinx communities in the United States

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Valeria D. Cantos, Emory University; Paulina Rebolledo, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2020-09-11
• Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved.
• Final Published Version (URL): https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fcid%2Fciaa1378
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: CLINICAL INFECTIOUS DISEASES
• Keywords: structural risk factors; COVID-19; Latinx
• Research Categories: Biology, Virology; Health Sciences, Health Care Management; Health Sciences, Public Health

Abstract

COVID-19 is disproportionally impacting racial and ethnic minority groups, namely Black, Latinx, and Native American communities, in both urban and rural areas in the United States (US).1 Latinx groups have 2 to 4 times higher rates of COVID-19 than expected for their population share in 43 out of the 44 jurisdictions in the US that reported ethnicity data. These ethnic disparities are also evident in terms of COVID-19 related deaths, which are 1.5 times higher for Latinx individuals compared to White counterparts. In California, despite representing 38% of the total population, Latinx persons account for 60% of all cases, and 48% of all deaths. In this issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, Chamie et al aim to identify factors driving community spread of COVID-19 in San Francisco’s majority Latinx census tract 022901.