Patterns of systemic exclusion from health services have a long history in the United States but have become increasingly apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Latinx communities represented 75% of positive COVID-19 cases in Durham County in early 2020, a rate five times greater than the total share of the Latinx population. During the pandemic, Hispanic and Latinx communities have also experienced housing, job and food insecurity, as well as inequitable vaccine uptake.

This project team's research aims were to identify the role that LATIN-19, a multisector coalition addressing the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Latinx communities in North Carolina, plays in Durham, and investigate the community-informed barriers and solutions to COVID-19 testing and vaccination in Latinx communities.

Team members completed a comprehensive analysis of LATIN-19 meeting minutes, including qualitative coding and social network mapping. Through this analysis, the team demonstrated the central role LATIN-19 plays in connecting community organizations and government institutions in Durham. Further, they identified systemic barriers to achieving COVID-19 equity in Latinx communities and policy strategies to overcome them.

Timing

Summer 2021 – Spring 2022

Team Outputs

Improving COVID-19 Outcomes for the Latinx Community of Durham (2022 Fortin Foundation Bass Connections Virtual Showcase)

Closing COVID-19 Equity Gaps Among Latinx Populations in North Carolina (poster by Afreen Ashraf, Nikhil Chaudhry, Ethan Ho, Amy Labrador, Etan Zeller Maclean, Caroline Palmer, Laura Poma, NiQuava Pope, Anil Prasad, Kristen Rigsby, Priya Alagesan, Matthew Curtis, Farrah Madanay, Adaobi Onunkwo, Andrew Flynn, Gabryel Garcia-Sampson, Viviana Martinez-Bianchi, Gabriela Plasencia and Andrea Thoumi, presented at Fortin Foundation Bass Connections Showcase, Duke University, April 13, 2022)

Systemic Racism Affecting Latinx Population Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond: Perspectives of Latinx Community Health Workers and Community-Based Organization Leaders (poster by Gabriela Plasencia, Rohan Gupta, Kamaria Kaalund, Viviana Martinez-Bianchi, Rosa Gonzalez-Guarda, Rushina Cholera and Andrea Thoumi, presented at the Academy Health Annual Research Meeting, June 26, 2023)

Gabriela Plasencia, Rohan Gupta, Kamaria Kaalund, Viviana Martinez-Bianchi, Rosa Gonzalez-Guarda, Andrea Thoumi. Systemic Racism Affecting Latinx Population Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond: Perspectives of Latinx Community Health Workers and Community-Based Organization Leaders. 2023. Health Equity 7:1, 715-721.

Andrea Thoumi, Gabriela Plasencia, Farrah Madanay, Ethan Shih-An Ho, Caroline Palmer, Kamaria Kaalund, Nikhil Chaudhry, Amy Labrador, Kristen Rigsby, Adaobi Onunkwo, Ivan Almonte, Rosa Gonzalez-Guarda, Viviana Martinez-Bianchi, Rushina Cholera. Promoting Latinx Health Equity Through Community-Engaged Policy and Practice Reforms in North Carolina. 2023. Frontiers in Public Health, vol. 11.

Reflection

Caroline Palmer

This Team in the News

Taking the Bull City by the Horns

Meet the Members of the 2022-2023 Student Advisory Council

Two Faculty Recognized for Exceptional Co-Leadership of Bass Connections Team

Meet the Winners of the 2022 Bass Connections Student Research Awards

Meet the Members of the 2021-2022 Bass Connections Student Advisory Council

See earlier related team, Community-based Testing and Primary Care to Mitigate COVID-19 Transmission (2020-2021).

Image: Airman 1st Class Trinity Packer joins members of the North Carolina National Guard receiving COVID-19 inoculations at NCNG Joint Force Headquarters in Raleigh, Jan. 8, 2021, licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0