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