COVID-19 is hitting California’s Latino community hard
COVID-19 is hitting California’s Latino community hard
The Latino community continues to bear the brunt of the pandemic in California. Many Latino workers are on the front lines in essential positions with little or no health insurance.
People like Socorro Diaz. After sheltering in place for weeks, she started cleaning houses again in May. But now, she’s out of work again. Clients started canceling in recent weeks as the case count spiked in Santa Rosa. Plus she doesn’t want to put her clients in danger. COVID-19 has plagued her family for months.
First her sister, then her sister’s husband, her niece … eventually, 15 family members tested positive — including her 22-year-old son. Diaz said her sister was likely the first case and might have caught the illness at a factory job where masks ran short.
The virus is disproportionately affecting people in California’s Latino community, according to California’s Department of Public Health, who make up nearly 39% of the state’s population. But they account for more than 55% of COVID-19 cases and more than 45% of deaths associated with the disease in the state.
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