Covid in the United States: the Latino community hardest hit by the virus
Audio 01:24
Caregivers care for a patient with Covid-19 at a Los Angeles hospital on November 19, 2020. AP - Jae C. Hong
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
Since Sunday evening, part of California has re-confined to try to contain the coronavirus.
Over 145,000 cases and 20,000 deaths there.
Half of these deaths concern the Latino community, disproportionately affected by the Covid for all a series of reasons.
Example in Boyle Heights, one of the Latino neighborhoods in eastern Los Angeles.
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With our correspondent in Los Angeles
,
Loïc Pialat
Few pedestrians on the sidewalks of Cesar Chavez avenue.
Not many people parade in front of the murals of the Aztec king Moctezuma or the virgin of Guadalupe.
In Boyle Heights, as elsewhere, activity is slowing down.
The shops remain open, even for ten customers per day.
No choice, explains Agustin, florist: “
We live from day to day.
We can't stop working.
Otherwise, we don't eat!
So of course if someone comes into the store and it is contaminated, they risk passing it on to an employee who will pass it on to his family on his way home.
"
This is part of the reason why the Latino community has twice as many cases as whites in Los Angeles.
In addition, 55% of Hispanics have a so-called essential trade, against 35% of whites.
For them, it is impossible to telework.
"
Are they doing jobs that are more risky, more vulnerable to Covid?
Yes.
We talk about farm workers, people in the kitchen, all these trades that expose us
, ”says Daisy, who runs a restaurant at the end of the street.
On average less well insured, not always American citizens, Latinos also suffer from more limited access to health services.
Los Angeles is expected to have 84,000 doses of the vaccine available as of next week.
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