ASAM NEWS & VIEWS FROM THE EDGE
Her Filipina coworker did not survive.
“Now that I myself have experienced the disease, I know how families feel when their family members are in the hospital and they don’t know when they’re going to go home or if they’re going to get better,” she told Angelus News. “I feel that I’m in a perfect position to be able to help people, not only because I can, but because I have walked the walk.”
On top of the occupational proximity for Filipino Americans in California, homogenization of Asian Americans may contribute the issue receiving less attention, De Leon noted.
Black and Latinx Americans also have higher coronavirus mortality rates, and Asian Americans are generally regarded as having a lower rate. However, California Department of Public Health does not report infection rates among Asian ethnic subgroups, merging an ethnically and geologically diverse population into a label that does not accurately represent the community as a whole.
“Using ‘Asian American’ as an overarching label obscures a lot of the inequalities within and among communities,” De Leon said.
Rosa J., 58, considers herself lucky after recovering from the novel coronavirus in April, she told ABC10.
"I am so blessed that I'm still alive," the certified nursing assistant and caregiver said Rosa J. (She asked the TV station that her last name not be used.)
"I am so blessed that I'm still alive," the certified nursing assistant and caregiver said Rosa J. (She asked the TV station that her last name not be used.)
Her Filipina coworker did not survive.
Filipino Americans in California are dying at a higher rate from coronavirus but are “little noticed,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
The first person to have died from COVID-19 in Los Angeles County was Loretta Mendoza Dionisio, a 68-year old woman of Filipino descent, who was returning to her home in Florida after traveling to the Philippines. In ways, her death in March may have been a precursor to the disproportionate number of Filipino fatalities in California for the months ahead.
Data compiled by Los Angeles Times indicates that while people of Filipino roots are one-fourth of the California Asian population, they represent 35% of COVID-19 deaths in that demographic.
Furthermore, research by Johns Hopkins shows that the coronavirus death rate in the United States is 3.6%. Because 19 out of 48 confirmed COVID-19 individuals of Filipino descent in California have died, this puts the fatality rate of Filipinos at 40% in the state, which is high despite the small sample.
The reason for the high fatality rate may be attributed to a combination of physiological conditions, occupational hazards, and potential economic and political insecurity, according to assistant University of Southern California professor Adrian De Leon who spoke to the LA Times.
“It’s the perfect storm,” De Leon said, “in terms of exposure to the pandemic, exposure to the virus, but also exposure to a lot of other factors, too — like dense housing tends to be in places that have environmental hazards.”
Most Filipino individuals who died were also seniors, with many in “multigenerational housing with their children or in nursing homes” and had health concerns. Younger infected individuals worked essential jobs, healthcare, law enforcement and more, which contributed to the higher mortality rate.
Kim Hernandez, a registered nurse at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, is one such example of a COVID-19 patient of Filipino descent, according to Angelus News.
Three members of Hernandez’s family were nurses and she was living with her extended family and infant daughter at the time, when six members fell ill. Members of her family are still recuperating.
California has the most Filipino nurses in the U.S., according to LAist. A fifth of all RN's in the state are Filipinx. No one knows how many hundreds more -- like Rosa J. -- work in the state's nursing homes where many of the deaths have occurred, or in other healthcare capacities.
The first person to have died from COVID-19 in Los Angeles County was Loretta Mendoza Dionisio, a 68-year old woman of Filipino descent, who was returning to her home in Florida after traveling to the Philippines. In ways, her death in March may have been a precursor to the disproportionate number of Filipino fatalities in California for the months ahead.
Data compiled by Los Angeles Times indicates that while people of Filipino roots are one-fourth of the California Asian population, they represent 35% of COVID-19 deaths in that demographic.
Furthermore, research by Johns Hopkins shows that the coronavirus death rate in the United States is 3.6%. Because 19 out of 48 confirmed COVID-19 individuals of Filipino descent in California have died, this puts the fatality rate of Filipinos at 40% in the state, which is high despite the small sample.
The reason for the high fatality rate may be attributed to a combination of physiological conditions, occupational hazards, and potential economic and political insecurity, according to assistant University of Southern California professor Adrian De Leon who spoke to the LA Times.
“It’s the perfect storm,” De Leon said, “in terms of exposure to the pandemic, exposure to the virus, but also exposure to a lot of other factors, too — like dense housing tends to be in places that have environmental hazards.”
Most Filipino individuals who died were also seniors, with many in “multigenerational housing with their children or in nursing homes” and had health concerns. Younger infected individuals worked essential jobs, healthcare, law enforcement and more, which contributed to the higher mortality rate.
Kim Hernandez, a registered nurse at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, is one such example of a COVID-19 patient of Filipino descent, according to Angelus News.
Three members of Hernandez’s family were nurses and she was living with her extended family and infant daughter at the time, when six members fell ill. Members of her family are still recuperating.
California has the most Filipino nurses in the U.S., according to LAist. A fifth of all RN's in the state are Filipinx. No one knows how many hundreds more -- like Rosa J. -- work in the state's nursing homes where many of the deaths have occurred, or in other healthcare capacities.
CNA/ NNU PHOTO
Angela Gatdula, a nurse at Providence Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, tested positive for COVID-19 in April.
On top of the occupational proximity for Filipino Americans in California, homogenization of Asian Americans may contribute the issue receiving less attention, De Leon noted.
Black and Latinx Americans also have higher coronavirus mortality rates, and Asian Americans are generally regarded as having a lower rate. However, California Department of Public Health does not report infection rates among Asian ethnic subgroups, merging an ethnically and geologically diverse population into a label that does not accurately represent the community as a whole.
“Using ‘Asian American’ as an overarching label obscures a lot of the inequalities within and among communities,” De Leon said.
The story is the same in other parts of the US where Filipino American nurses are in demand. In the Midwest, the Filipino Consulate in Chicago tracked 17 Filipino American deaths. Half of the victims had been working in health care.
“Nursing intrinsically requires being in close quarters with patients, and there i no way you can do 6-feet social distancing,” said Dr VJ Periyakoil, the director at the Stanford Aging and Ethnogeriatrics Research Centre, which examines ethnicity and health.
According to Periyakoil, socioeconomic conditions are a big risk factor for Filipinos. “If you’re poor, your housing circumstances are going to be quite limited; there will be more people sharing the same space; you’ll be working on daily-wage or low-paying jobs, which require you to go into work,” she said.
"When you’re forced to go into work, forced to be in contact, forced to take public transport, the nature of your finances imposes certain realities and restrictions on your daily life that put you at risk for higher stress and infections including Covid-19.”
“Nursing intrinsically requires being in close quarters with patients, and there i no way you can do 6-feet social distancing,” said Dr VJ Periyakoil, the director at the Stanford Aging and Ethnogeriatrics Research Centre, which examines ethnicity and health.
According to Periyakoil, socioeconomic conditions are a big risk factor for Filipinos. “If you’re poor, your housing circumstances are going to be quite limited; there will be more people sharing the same space; you’ll be working on daily-wage or low-paying jobs, which require you to go into work,” she said.
"When you’re forced to go into work, forced to be in contact, forced to take public transport, the nature of your finances imposes certain realities and restrictions on your daily life that put you at risk for higher stress and infections including Covid-19.”
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