Most of those killed by coronavirus in New York City, the United States hardest hit by the pandemic, are Latino, Mayor Bill de Blasio reported Wednesday.
A preliminary report indicates that 34% of the 3,602 deaths from covid-19 as of this Wednesday are Hispanics, who constitute 29% of the population of the largest American city, with 8.6 million inhabitants.
“It is a glaring disparity,” the mayor admitted at a press conference.
He cited language as one of the main reasons, and announced a new information campaign on the coronavirus in 14 languages.
But he also talked about immigration status. “What has happened in the last couple of years has led many immigrants, especially the undocumented but also those who have papers, to move away from the places where they would normally seek support or medical attention,” said the mayor, referring to the policy. anti-immigrant from the Trump administration.
One-third of Hispanics in New York, roughly one million people, are undocumented immigrants without health insurance, according to city government estimates.
Many of them cannot self-quarantine and are forced to continue working as food delivery men, cleaners or babysitters to feed their families. Several fear seeking medical assistance for fear of deportation.
Most of the deaths in New York have taken place in the immigrant-majority boroughs of Queens and the Bronx.
“I think that the layer of anti-immigrant rhetoric across the country has real implications for the health of our community,” Puerto Rican New York Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot said at the same press conference.
Barbot indicated that the disparity is also due to the low income of the Hispanic community that forces them to continue working despite confinement measures, their lower rate of medical coverage, underlying chronic diseases or their overcrowding in multi-family housing.
As in other cities in the country such as Chicago, the coronavirus also affects African-Americans disproportionately in New York, with 28% of deaths, when they constitute 22% of the population.
27% of deaths from covid-19 in New York occurred among white people (32% of the population) and 7% in Asians (14% of the population).
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© Agence France-Presse
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