How the COVID pandemic can create security for the next crisis

[Applause]

those

people that population

the poor neighborhoods on the west side

they don’t follow our recommendations

it’s not our problem

only the migrants are getting infected

the community is not concerned

did any of these statements make you

uncomfortable

did they make you cringe a little or a

lot

these are statements i have heard

throughout the kovit 19 pandemic

response

here in utah but this mindset isn’t

unique to utah

when covet 19 was first identified in

the united states

national leaders were calling it the

chinese virus

and asian-american communities across

the country experienced racist attacks

and as

covid 19 has spread we have seen worse

health outcomes in already marginalized

communities

american indians and alaska natives are

3.5 times

more likely to be infected with covet 19

than white populations

black and hispanic populations are twice

as likely to die

from coven 19 as white populations

globally this pandemic is exposing the

gap between the wealthy

and the poor nations this is a health

crisis

but it is not only a health crisis the

world bank warns

that this virus could push between 40

and 60 million people into extreme

poverty this year

with sub-saharan africa and south asia

hardest hit

but at the beginning of this pandemic we

were all susceptible

there was no treatment no vaccine no one

was immune

we were all equals and the ways to

protect yourself from covet 19 are

pretty simple

right stay six feet away from others

wear a face covering wash your hands

so why then does the risk of being

impacted by covet 19

depend on skin color the language you

speak

where you live or where you work

well let’s think of life before covet

i’ve got a couple scenarios for you and

i’m sure most of you can relate to at

least one of them

my husband and i both work full time we

have two young children and no family

around

so we rely on school and child care to

make our lives functional

there have been times more than i will

admit on the stage

where one of my sons would feel sick at

night in the morning he’d seem okay

just slip him a little acetaminophen and

head him off to school

and hope that the school wouldn’t call

me in a few hours to come pick them up

maybe a more common scenario you wake up

with a mild cough

you’re feeling a little tired but you

have several important meetings that day

you take some cold medicine head into

the office and go about your regular

routine falling behind for something so

mild just isn’t worth it

now during covid19 these two scenarios

are completely different

there’s no way i’m sending my kid to

school or going into work if

any of us are symptomatic at all i don’t

want to risk

spreading kova 19 to anyone plus

i have plenty of paid sick leave if i

need to take time off or i can work from

home if i feel well enough to do so

the risks of sending my kid to school or

going into the office

outweigh the benefits now

another scenario probably one unfamiliar

to most of you

imagine you are a 27 year old refugee

from somalia

you live in a small apartment with your

extended family

you came to utah eight months ago after

spending five years in a refugee camp in

kenya

in order to become quickly

self-sufficient you take a job at a

meatpacking plan

there you spend eight hours a day

shoulder

to shoulder with your co-workers you get

paid by the hour

you don’t have any sick leave and

obviously no way to work from home

you know you’ve heard of covet 19 and

that young people typically don’t get

that sick

so when you wake up with a sore throat

one morning

what do you do do you stay home

miss eight hours of income and have to

worry about

how to pay for groceries next week or do

you go into work

with that sore throat i bet you’d go

into work

in that situation in that moment the

benefits of going into work

while you’re sick outweigh the risks

you know protecting yourself and your

family from covet 19 is definitely

easier if you have higher socioeconomic

status

anyone who tests positive for covid19 is

asked to stay home

away from others for at least 10 days

and they have to give the names and

information of all of their close

contacts to the government

this is so the government can tell their

contacts that they too

have to stay home away from others then

if any sick individual lives in a

household with other people

we ask them to use their own bedroom and

their own bathroom

when public health can’t identify how

individuals are getting infected

that means we have community spread and

all individuals are asked to stay home

in order to stay safe that works well

for people with big houses

or those of us who can work from home

but what about the rest of our

communities

it’s no surprise that our hot spots of

coven 19 in utah

have occurred in tourist town apartment

complexes where workers in the service

industry live

and in communities where health and

economic disparities have been prevalent

for years

this virus has shown us that while we

are all clinically susceptible

the disparities ingrained in our society

have allowed specific populations

to bear the biggest burden

you know covet 19 came to utah initially

from people who were infected while they

were on international cruises

and from tourists who were in town on

ski vacations

and for a while we had no secondary

cases

all of our cases and their contacts were

able to stay isolated

we were patting ourselves on our backs

but then on march 4th we had our first

instance of community spread

a worker at a local restaurant likely

infected by someone in town on vacation

and from there more community spread was

identified

changing the demographics of our cases

quickly

on may 27th the number of hispanic

individuals in utah

infected with covet 19 surpassed that of

white individuals

and for the next several months the

burden of disease continued to shift

away from white populations and toward

persons of color

you know even though hispanic

individuals only make up 14

of utah’s population at its peak

they made up nearly 50 percent of our

covet 19 cases

while the utah majority was physical

distancing and staying home

the utah minority was working in

essential jobs they were producing our

food

keeping our lights on and keeping our

water clean

they were putting themselves and their

families at risk for being infected with

covet 19

every day

i-15 is an interstate that separates

salt lake county

into a west and an east side

communities west of i-15 tend to have

lower education

less income higher rates of racial and

ethnic groups

and more individuals living in one

household than the east side

if you live west of i-15 you’re twice as

likely to be infected with covid19

than if you live east but

we know the virus can’t see

socioeconomic status

the virus doesn’t know the skin color or

language spoken

by its host it can be the great

equalizer we saw kovit 19 spread like a

wildfire through our refugee community

in northern utah

and then into surrounding communities of

a variety

of races ethnicities languages spoken

and incomes

this pandemic has taught us that we are

all

interconnected

i know so many of us want to erase this

pandemic experience from our memories

it has been painful health disparities

hurt us all

the virus doesn’t stop at neighborhood

borders

this pandemic has also highlighted the

interdependence of our physical

and economic security when one community

suffers

we are all more vulnerable

but it does not have to be this way

as winston churchill is credited as

saying never

let a good crisis go to waste so i

urge each one of us to use this pandemic

as a catalyst

to effectively address the health

disparities that have been fracturing

our society for decades

yet magnified by covet 19.

each one of us has a powerful voice and

we must

use that voice to strengthen those whose

society has ignored

you are part of the solution

let’s create security now throughout our

communities

so that we are all safer in the next

crisis

and let’s do that by fighting for living

wages

to support physical and economic

security

paid sick leave so that no one has to

choose between staying home when they’re

sick

or putting food on the table affordable

housing

to ensure that all of our communities

are safe environments where people can

thrive

and access to quality health care

allowing individuals to focus on disease

prevention

and general wellness

because the health of each of us depends

on the health of all of us

you