More than half or 53 percent of COVID-19 patients in Austin, Texas are Latinos while 38 percent who died due to the virus still came from the Latino community according to a recently published article.

Latinos Were Hit Hard in Austin, Texas

34 percent of the total population in Austin, Texas are coming from the Latino community. But more than half of people who get infected by the virus both in Austin and Travis County are coming from Latino community.

There are many factors why Latinos are hit hard in Austin and Travis. Few of these could be their nature of work, lack of health information about the virus due to the language barrier, proper treatment due to their immigration status, and more.

Jill Ramirez, president and CEO of the Latino HealthCare Forum, said: "In speaking with people, many don't really understand what an infectious disease is. They thought it was a myth. If there is a lot of misinformation on Facebook, it gets passed on in our community and becomes a fact. Consequently, we don't see people follow the CDC guidelines"

Ramirez has observed that many are still not following the health and safety guidelines set by the CDC like the mandatory use of face mask and the stringent observance of social distancing. This could lead to an increase of COVID-19 cases and death toll if this continues.

The Latino HealthCare Forum is just one of the Latino groups asking Austin Mayor Steve Adler and the City council to look into and address the disproportionate impact of the virus most especially in the Hispanic and Latino community.

53 percent of all COVID-19 patients in Austin and Travis are Latinos and 38 percent of those who died due to the virus still came from the group. Additionally, 66.1 percent of those who were hospitalized due to COVID-19 related illnesses were Hispanics and Latinos.

Hispanic Leaders Asking the Officials to Step Up and Address the Issue

The Latino leaders issued a public call on Monday after the virtual call they held with Mayor Adler to raise their concerns. However, during the virtual call, it seems for them that the city Mayor did not understand the urgency of their request.

Paul Saldana, the co-founder of the Hispanic Advocate Business Leaders Association, said: "The numbers have been increasing the last two weeks. More specific, the last two weeks have been quite alarming for a lot of people in the Latino community."

Saldana said that to address the problems of Latinos, the actions should be culturally relevant and bilingual. It should be taken into account that there are 25 Latino subcultures in the city and many Latinos will listen to the information if it is in a language where most of them can understand, Spanish.

Saldana explained: "Mayor Adler was not receptive. He pushed back. He said, 'I don't know if it's something we need to do.' It's something he'd have to talk to the city manager about."

Meanwhile, Austin is one of the earliest cities that respond to the threat brought by COVID-19 by canceling its major revenue generator ordered the shelter-in-place and the closure of bars and restaurants.

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