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Hispanics most affected by coronavirus in Tarrant County as leaders call for action
Clinica Hispana Tu Salud is a small clinic in Fort Worth’s Northside that has been seeing Hispanics with COVID-19 symptoms drop by every day in the past few weeks.
Jose Romeo Sosa, manager of Clinica Hispana, says the clinic can’t really do much for these patients other than refer them to an emergency room.
“They come knocking on our door every single day and we can usually tell right away if they have the virus,” Sosa said in Spanish. “But at that point, there’s not much we can do but refer them to a hospital if they have symptoms.”
Sosa also says that the clinic has been facing a shortage of COVID-19 test kits.
“Our focus is on the Hispanic community, the ones without insurance. We’re supposed to be accessible, so this situation is bad,” he said.
According to the U.S. Census, non-Hispanic whites make up the majority in Tarrant County, yet the Hispanic population here has been disproportionately affected by COVID-19.
As of July 2, the majority of all reported COVID-19 cases in the county were Hispanic at 39%, compared to 21% for whites. About 20% of cases did not report race or ethnicity.
A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveals that Hispanics are four times more likely to be hospitalized for COVID-19 than non-Hispanic whites.
Vinny Taneja, Tarrant County’s top public health expert, said that poverty, lack of access to health care, multi-generational living arrangements and population density are some factors possibly contributing to this public health disparity in Tarrant County and throughout the country.
“Health disparities come to light more so when you’re starting to study diseases that are on a pandemic scale. It truly shows you where we have problems in our society,” Taneja said. “Certainly, this is a good example on how race, socio-economic status and other factors like transportation access, insurance, all those things, can cause an impact.”
Taneja also says that younger individuals have contributed to this recent spike in COVID-19 cases in the county and throughout the state. He says that most Hispanics in Tarrant County are part of this younger population.
“When it comes to the virus, I think a lot of it has to do with the lack of medical care, especially for those that are undocumented,” said Felix Alvarado, a League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) district director. “It’s a historical thing.”
Alvarado has been working as district director for about three years but he’s been involved with LULAC since the 1990s. His district encompasses several counties in North Texas and he says that a lot of Hispanics live in Fort Worth’s 76106 ZIP code.
“And that’s one of the ZIP codes that’s been impacted the worst, which is where a lot of immigrants live,” Alvarado said.
As of Thursday, the 76106 ZIP code had 564 positive COVID-19 cases — one of the highest in the county.
Domingo Garcia, national president of LULAC, held a news conference last Thursday to declare a state-wide medical emergency for the Hispanic community in Texas for this same reason — that they’re disproportionately affected more by the virus.
“We believe there are several factors and reasons why the Latino community is being impacted so disproportionately. Number one is that Latinos are essential workers,” Garcia told the media through a Zoom conference call. “LULAC has been raising the alarm now for months and yet we have seen little to no action from our national, state, and federal governments.”
LULAC issued a letter to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott addressing the issue and calling for the governor to issue a statewide requirement for masks, which the governor did that same day for most counties.
The letter also calls for a $500 fine for anyone who doesn’t wear a mask, for businesses and government officials to take temperatures of people before they enter buildings and for the governor to call a special emergency session, among other things.
State Representative Ramon Romero, D-Fort Worth, told the Star-Telegram that Abbott and President Donald Trump haven’t done enough to inform Hispanics about the dangers of the virus.
“Latinos respect the U.S. Presidential Office so much and from the very beginning the message was that you don’t have to wear a mask, that it’s going to be OK, that some people might not get sick and I think the Latino community really believed that,” Romero said. “And why is Greg Abbott not talking to the Latino community? Why is he not telling them that it’s serious in Spanish? He did it for his campaign.”
He also says that Latino business owners have been getting a less favorable outcome when it comes to federal economic assistance from programs like the Paycheck Protection Program.
Romero posted a video on Twitter urging Hispanics in Tarrant County to take the virus more seriously and to avoid visiting extended family members.
But he told the Star-Telegram that might be a challenge since most Hispanics are usually family-oriented.
“You know, we love our families so much and we still think it’s OK to go to mom’s house to get menudo on Sundays. To not visit family is a really hard message to deliver to Latinos,” Romero said. “But it’s important right now. Don’t go visit your family.”
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