Hospital officials and City officials are reporting this week that Latino residents – particularly in Chelsea, East Boston and Lawrence – are being infected with the COVID-19 virus at a greater rate than other groups.
On Tuesday, Mass General Hospital indicated to reporters that were seeing 35-40 percent of their admissions into the hospital to be Latinos – which was 400 percent higher than what they had predicted and far outsizing their percentage of the population.
That was first reported on WBUR Radio, and a spokesperson for MGH couldn’t confirm it for the Record by press time.
City Manager Tom Ambrosino said he certainly believes that Latinos are coming down with COVID-19 more readily, just like every other majority-minority community – and he’s asking for more resources in light of that fact.
“Absolutely,” he said. “There is no question that majority minority communities like Chelsea are being disproportionately impacted by this virus in a major way. It’s Chelsea, Brockton and Lawrence. The numbers are staggering in Chelsea – the infection rate. That’s making things incredibly dangerous in Chelsea and why we want people to stay home at all hours. We’ve shared the numbers with MEMA and those at the state. They want to deploy resources equally around the Commonwealth and we want them to see that we need those resources here.
“Chelsea, Revere, Brockton and Lawrence,” he continued. “That’s where the situation is critical and nowhere else.”
Numbers in East Boston have also shown an outsized infection rate in the Hispanic community there. In neighborhood numbers released last Friday, East Boston had the second highest rate of infection in all of Boston, with a 27.7 per 10,000 rate. There are no official numbers for Chelsea’s rate as so few have been tested, but some in the media have suggested a rate of up to 71 per 10,000.
Many have argued about why the Latino population is turning up sick so often.
Clearly, many have had to, or chose to, continue going to work, and many ride public transportation.
Others have argued that information about the outbreak didn’t reach deep into the community until it was too late. Still, others have said there was a lack of seriousness in the community at first, and persistent rumors that it was a hoax perpetrated by President Donald Trump to try to deport Spanish-speaking people.
It could have been all of those, or none of them.
Ambrosino said in Chelsea he believes it is because conditions are very dense, and many people in the community were essential workers.
“The explanation is not that complicated,” he said. “These are all communities with very dense populations and crowded living conditions. They are economically disadvantaged and tend to work in low-wage jobs that are essential and most get there by using crowded public transportation.
“I don’t think it’s a level of information or understanding on the part of residents,” he continued. “I think it’s a product of people living in crowded housing situations. They don’t get to isolate themselves in the third master bedroom like people can do in the suburbs…Even in this crisis, some of the buses people ride.