FILE PHOTO: Individuals using face masks walk along the ocean pier in Huntington Beach, California, U.S., July 23,2020 REUTERS/Mike Blake
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) – Latinos in California are becoming ill and dying from COVID-19 at far higher rates than other groups, the state’s top health authorities cautioned on Tuesday, triggering new outreach and data collection efforts as cases surge.
Latinos make up 39%of the population in the most populous U.S. state, but represent 56%of COVID-19 infections and 46%of deaths, the California Health and Human being Providers secretary, Dr. Mark Ghaly, said in a teleconference with reporters.
Of specific issue is the heavily Latino Central Valley farming region, where cases continue to skyrocket and hospitals are becoming overwhelmed even as the rate of new infections may be slowing in the state overall, Ghaly said.
Specialists stated an ideal storm of work environment problems and cultural customs in the Central Valley has caused a crush of cases that has actually devastated lots of families. Lots of Latinos in the Central Valley are poor, working in industries such as farming that have been considered vital throughout the pandemic. Many companies have actually not reliably supplied protective equipment to employees or carried out social distancing or guidelines requiring masks to be worn, measures important to containing the infection, state authorities state.
In addition, cultural norms that promote large family events and consist of lots of multi-generational families have caused fast and deadly transmission of the infection, frequently to older relatives who are less able to endure.
On Tuesday, Ghaly said California would execute a new method of tracking COVID-19 along with other transmittable diseases by requiring laboratories to ask the ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identity of those they test.
Likewise of concern is a high death rate for African-Americans who contract the disease, although progress has been made decreasing the group’s general infection rate, Ghaly stated. African-Americans make up 6%of California’s population and represent 4%of COVID-19 infections however 8.5%of deaths, he said. Whites, who comprise 37%of the population, account for 17.5%of cases and 30%of deaths, state data reveal.
Reporting by Sharon Bernstein; Modifying by Leslie Adler
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