Hispanics hit hard by the coronavirus

Group has higher rates of deaths and hospitalizations in Central Florida

COVID-19 is hospitalizing and killing Hispanics in Central Florida in disproportionately higher numbers than other ethnic groups — likely the result of greater exposure in their jobs, underlying medical problems and a public health education campaign that was slow to reach heavily Hispanic neighborhoods.

In Osceola County, where 55% of the population is Hispanic, they have accounted for 67% of the coronavirus deaths so far.

In Seminole, which is 22% Hispanic, they account for 38% of deaths. In Orange, 32% Hispanic, they are 37% of deaths. And in Lake, 16% Hispanic, they represent 36% of deaths.

Collectively, Hispanics account for more than 45 percent of those hospitalized in the region.

Among the four counties, 36 Hispanics have died and 277 have been hospitalized. Advocates say the region’s economic reliance on the hospitality industry and the disproportionate number of Hispanics who work as cashiers, cooks and health aides put the population at higher risk.

“People look down on service workers, but their backs are the ones this economy is built on,” said Father Jose Rodriguez of Iglesia Episcopal Jesús de Nazaret in Azalea Park — an Episcopal church in heavily Hispanic Azalea Park, a co

ronavirus hot spot.

“I know a plastic surgeon from Cuba who works doing medical transport. I know a woman with two college degrees, a professor in Brazil, who now works in hospitality here,” he added. “Yet we’re not engaging Hispanics to battle this pandemic the way we’ve engaged Hispanics to drum up support for the Census or for voter registration.”

For five weeks, through mandatory curfews and stay-at-home orders in Orange County, briefings by government leaders took place almost exclusively in English, despite the large minority of Spanish-speaking residents. It took until April 21 for officials to offer a completely bilingual briefing.

“In my district alone, I have the highest number of positive cases, and the 32822 ZIP code [Orange County’s largest coronavirus hot spot] has a 62% Hispanic population,” said Orange County Commissioner Mayra Uribe. “They work at restaurants and grocery stores and many of them still take public transit. Yet we had to fight to get [COVID-19] testing in that neighborhood.”

It took until April 29 for a testing site there, at Ventura Elementary School, by which point Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was less than a week away from reopening much of the state for business.

Dr. Raul Pino, head of the

Florida Department of Health in Orange County, referred questions on the subject to the state office, which did not respond.

The timing, Uribe said, created a mixed message that confused many in the Hispanic community, especially those busy with jobs and raising children and not necessarily following the latest news reports.

“People in the Hispanic community seem to be one extreme or the other — either they’re paranoid and not leaving their homes or they think the whole thing is over now and they don’t have to worry,” she said. “I had a mother say to me [in Spanish], ‘Oh, that has passed.’ They’re not seeing the reports of people dying.”

Across the country, both blacks and Hispanics have been disproportionately impacted by the virus. In a study of more than 1,000 hospitalized patients in New York in March, for instance, 62% were Hispanic.

Health authorities cite higher rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease among people of color, as well as the tendency to live in larger, multi-generational households that expose more people. But blacks and Hispanics are also more likely to have lower household incomes and less likely to have health insurance — making them less inclined to seek medical attention until they’re seriously ill.

“If I get coronavirus, then that’s my destiny. I can’t worry about it,” said Vimarie Cardona, 27, a nursing school graduate waiting to take the professional certification exam in August. With no health insurance, the mother of two young children is struggling just to cover her rent.

“First I came from Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, and I got no help from FEMA [the Federal Emergency Management Agency],” she said. “Then I got a job with Disney, but they fired me when I had to go back to Puerto Rico and take care of my mother, who was having major surgery. That was a month before the coronavirus hit — and now I can’t get another job. … At this point, I have kids to worry about, so I can’t go crazy.”

Uribe said she is pushing for more assistance to renters and small businesses, but Rodriguez worries about what will happen if Central Florida leaders don’t pay attention to those Hispanic hot spots as the economy reopens. At the least, he wants to see representation of Hispanic workers — and not just employers — on Orange County Government’s Economic Recovery Task Force.

“When the disparity appears in the Hispanic community, the black community, the Creole-speaking community, you risk crippling the whole economy,” he said. “If we don’t take care of these neighborhoods, the people who live there are going to go into other neighborhoods to work, which means they can spread the virus there.”