The world has been put into check by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the U.S. is no exception. The Virus presents similar challenges to communities across the globe. Due to its unprecedented scale and transmission rate as evidenced in the U.S, the Virus continues to disrupt the way of life of communities and Mexicans and Latinx communities are no exception. These communities have been significantly affected by the virus. They have lost their jobs and they are more prone to the effects of the disease since they mostly do menial jobs and have no access to health insurance.
The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the Latinx community hard. This is as a result of numerous underlying factors; detention status, economic status, citizenship status, and race that make this group of people more vulnerable. For instance, in 2009, during the outbreak of the HIN1 pandemic, compared to other communities, the Latinos had twice the rate of confirmed infection cases (Race, Hunger, and COVID-19: The impact on Latino/communities, 2020). This indication orients us to expect similar disparities concerning the current pandemic. Further, about 40% of the Latinos say they fear the epidemic as it poses a significant health threat (Race, Hunger, and COVID-19: The impact on Latino/communities, 2020). This percentage is twice as high compared to the rate of white respondents. As such, Covid-19 has brought more fear among the Latinx communities.
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Mexicans and Latinx communities mostly work in jobs that require their physical presence: most of these jobs include food deliveries, health aids, and manual jobs in farms, among others. With the World Health Organization recommendation of maintaining a safe social distance, most of the people are forced to stay at home. As a result, this group is likely to be affected by the policy since the nature of their work does not offer telework where they can work from home and thus are likely to lose their income (Race, Hunger, and COVID-19: The impact on Latino/communities, 2020). Thus, they will be detrimentally affected by the COVID-19 pandemic as it might even become hard to afford basic needs without an income.
Mexicans and the Latinx community, together with other undocumented immigrants in the U.S lack health insurance. While these members of the community pay taxes, they lack adequate protection at their workplace since there is restricted access to health care insurance programs. Moreover, they receive low pay and are not legible to unemployment insurance covers, thereby leaving them more vulnerable to COVID-19 and its effects. In California, 11.3%, Texas 8.2%, and Florida, 6.7% of the workers working in the Agricultural plantations are Latinos (Census Results, 2007). The Federal government has listed agricultural services as essential; as such, these groups of people continue to provide these services, further exposing themselves to the Virus (Tomer & Kane, 2020). Subsequently, unlike all other communities in the U.S Mexicans and the Lations continue to risk their lives.
In summary, Mexicans and the Latinx communities have been adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The two communities’ way of life is likely to change significantly. Majority of them due to their citizenship status and race, work in the informal sectors where they rely on people walking in the streets. Nonetheless, due to the government initiative and that of the World Health Organization (WHO) of staying at home, their revenues have significantly reduced. They are at the risk of being struck by hunger. Moreover, majority of the workers provide essential services in the farms where they are not adequately protected against the Virus, further putting them at the risk of contracting the Virus.
References
Https://Www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/AgCensus/2007/Online_Highlights/Fact_Sheets/Demographics/Hispanic.pdf.
“Race, Hunger, and COVID-19: The Impact on Latino/a Communities.” Bread for the World , 17 Apr. 2020, www.bread.org/blog/race-hunger-and-covid-19-impact-latinoa-communities.
Tomer, Adie, and Joseph Kane. “How to Protect Essential Workers during COVID-19.” Brookings , Brookings, 31 Mar. 2020, www.brookings.edu/research/how-to-protect-essential-workers-during-covid-19/.
