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IU Professor: COVID-19 Disproportionately Burdens Vulnerable Communities

By Bente Bouthier

Posted May 26, 2020

doctor

(Lauren Chapman, IPBS News)

Emerging data shows that racial and ethnic minority groups are disproportionately affected by COVID-19. That’s according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Dr. Kosali Simon is a professor in the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at IU. Since the pandemic started, Simon has been working to collect data on how job losses during the crisis have affected different types of families and workers.

She says it’s not surprising to see vulnerable populations disproportionately burdened by the pandemic, given rising unemployment rates-especially in industries that rely on face-to-face contact.

“When we think about vulnerable communities, there’s quite an overlap between who’s vulnerable in a healthcare or health sense as well as who’s vulnerable in an economic sense," Simon says. "Minority communities are vulnerable in both ways.” 

She says data she helped collect in March indicate the largest numbers of job losses are among young workers (21-24 years old), Hispanics, women, workers with 4 or more children, and less educated employees.  

The study Simon co-authored shows that in the first two months of the pandemic, young workers experienced a decline in employment nearly 4.5 times as large as rates during the Great Recession. 

The decrease in employment for Hispanics is over 3.6 times larger in the last two months than during the 19 months of the Great Recession. 

For the latest news and resources about COVID-19, bookmark our Coronavirus In Indiana page here.

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