Covid-19 continues to claim the lives of Filipino caregivers

 

Artwork/painting by Iris Boncales-Strauss for @Kanlungan2

With more people getting the coronavirus vaccine and states and cities loosening the health restrictions, people are forgetting that COVID-19 is still claiming lives. It is a mistake to think that the pandemic is over.

As documented by "Lost in the Frontlines," the joint project by The Guardian and Kaiser Permanente, health care workers of Filipino descent are bearing a disproportionate number of deaths due to the coronavirus.

Six health care professionals of Filipino descent who have been added in the first week of April to the coronavirus death toll recorded by Kanlungan.net, the website documenting and honoring Filipino health care workers who have died because of COVID-19.

A report by National Nurses United, the largest nurses' union in the U.S., says that about a third of the nurse deaths in the Unite States are Filipino American nurses.

Their names sound oh, so familiar: Lourdes Pizarro, Melina Lopez, Andrey Caloza, Jesusa Ante, Emma Reyes, Victor Cabrera. They join the scores of other names: Rosary Celaya Castro-Ortega, Milagros Abellera, Debbie Accad, Nick Baltazar and scores of others.

Many of them have Latino-sounding names, but Filipinos know which ones are their fellow kababayan.

It is acknowledged that because of historical consequences, the Philippines is a huge source of health care professionals for the world.

One may argue for and against and whether it was good or bad for the Philippines about the reasons why the country provides so many nurses, doctors and other heath care workers, but one cannot argue their willingness to serve in the medical field and the sacrifices made by the health caregivers from the Philippines.

Let's not forget that they are first and foremost, human beings, not just a statistic or a percentage. 

When this pandemic is beaten, months, maybe years away, let's not let the world forget those who answered the call to care and paid the ultimate sacrifice in 2020-2021.

They are our our mothers and fathers, ninongs and ninangs, kuyas and ates. They are nurses, doctors, nursing assistants, environmental cleaners, dieticians, medical assistants, EMTs, patient transporters, caregivers to the elderly, and too often, the last person our loved ones see before passing away.

EDITOR'S NOTE; Views From the Edge is news laced with opinion. Readers are encouraged to seek multiple news sources to form their own opinion.

Guardian, Kaiser team up to count and profile health care worker deaths due to Covid

"Lost on the Frontline" is the first attempt to account for the U.S. deaths of health care workers.

A new report confirms what the AAPI community has been saying for almost a year. Of the 3,600 known deaths of healthcare workers in the United States, a disproportionate number of Asian American and Black frontliners.

The report found "more than a third of the healthcare workers who died were born outside the United States. Those from the Philippines accounted for a disproportionate number of deaths.”

The report, Lost on the Frontline, is the result of a 12-month joint investigation by Kaiser Health News and The Guardian.

“We rightfully refer to these people without hyperbole – that they are true heroes and heroines,” said Dr Anthony Fauci in an exclusive interview with the Guardian and KHN. The Covid deaths of so many health workers are “a reflection of what healthcare workers have done historically, putting themselves in harm’s way, by living up to the oath they take when they become physicians and nurses,” he said.

Key findings of the report, include:

• More than half of those who died were younger than 60. In the general population, the median age of death from Covid-19 is 78. Yet among healthcare workers in our database, it is only 59.

• More than a third of the healthcare workers who died were born outside the United States. Those from the Philippines accounted for a disproportionate number of deaths.

• Nurses and support staff died in far higher numbers than physicians.

• Twice as many workers died in nursing homes as hospitals. Only 30% of deaths were among hospital workers, and relatively few were employed by well-funded academic medical centers. The rest worked in less-prestigious residential facilities, outpatient clinics, hospices and prisons, among other places.

CALLS MOUNT FOR NAT'L TRACKING DATA

The Kaiser and The Guardian report is the first attempt at a comprehensive accounting of U.S. health care workers’ deaths. Even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has counted only 368 COVID deaths among health care workers, a vast undercount. The CDC talley is just a number and doesn't identify individuals.

Health policy experts and union leaders are pressing the White House to move quickly to fill the gaping hole left by the Trump administration through its failure to create an accurate count of Covid deaths among frontline staff. The absence of reliable federal data exacerbated critical problems such as shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) that left many workers exposed, with fatal results.

In the absence of federal action, "Lost on the Frontline" has compiled the most comprehensive account of healthcare worker deaths in the nation. It has recorded 3,607 lost lives in the first year of the pandemic, with nurses, healthcare support staff and doctors, as well as workers under 60 and people of color affected in tragically high numbers.

The Guardian and KHN are building an interactive, public-facing database that will also track factors such as race and ethnicity, age, profession, location and whether the workers had adequate access to protective gear. The database — to be released this summer — will offer insight into the workings and failings of the U.S. health care system during the pandemic.

Filipino American RN, Zenei Triunfo-Cortez, a president of National Nurses United, the largest body of registered nurses in the US, said it was unconscionable how many healthcare workers have died from Covid. The KHN/Guardian interactive found that almost a third of those who died were nurses – the largest single occupation followed by support staff (20%) and physicians (17%).

Triunfo-Cortez said the death toll was an unacceptable tragedy aggravated by the lack of federal data which made identifying problem areas more difficult. “We as nurses do not deserve this – we signed up to take care of patients, we did not sign up to die,” she said.

The lack of federal intelligence on deaths among frontline healthcare workers was one of the running failures of the Trump administration’s botched response to the crisis. The main health protection agency, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, does curate some information but has itself acknowledged that its own record of 1,527 health worker fatalities – more than 2,000 fewer than the joint Guardian/KHN tally – is an undercount based on limitations in its data collection.

Earlier limited attempts by nurses' organizations like National Nurses United have counted the number of registered nurses only; and a dedicated team of volunteers have launched Kanlungan, a website tallying deaths of Filipino health care workers around the world.

“We certainly want to find an accurate count of the people who die,” said Fauci, without noting when the government should undertake such an effort. “Certainly, that’s something I think would fall under the auspices of the federal government.”

SHORTAGE OF PPE HELPED BOOST COVID INFECTIONS

Overall, healthcare workers were revealed to be singularly at risk from the pandemic. Some studies have shown that they were more than three times as likely to contract Covid as the general population.

“During the critical times when there were shortages was when people had to use whatever was available to them,” said Fauci. “I’m sure that increased the risk of getting infected among healthcare providers.”

Shortages were compounded by the federal government’s failure to maintain a national stockpile of personal protective equipment, and the Trump administration’s refusal to order more domestic manufacturing of PPE. That left health workers to use trash bags as gowns, to reuse N95s for weeks, and at times go totally without gloves.

"LOST ON THE FRONTLINES"

EXPLORE the interactive data base.

READ the first 100 profiles here.

SHARE the story of a health care worker

UPDATES to 'Lost on the Frontlines' 

The shortages led to health worker protests, who said working amid the pandemic without equipment left them like “sheep going to slaughter”. Nina Forbes, a nurse at an assisted living facility, was forced to wear a trashbag at times, according to her daughter, and later died. A year into the pandemic, gowns and gloves remain in short supply, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

Emergency medical technicians raced by ambulance to help. Others did the cleanup, maintenance, security or transportation jobs needed to keep operations running smoothly.

The workers profiled by the project undertook their work with passion and dedication. They were also beloved spouses, parents, friends, military veterans, immigrants and community activists.

None started 2020 knowing that simply showing up to work would expose them to a virus that would kill them.

Los ANgeles Asian Americans join coalition's call for a 4-week lockdown against COVID-19

SCREEN CAPTURE / KTLA

The COVID ward of a Los Angeles hospital.

About two people an hour are dying from the coronavirus in Los Angeles County, according to media reports. There are zero ICU beds available in Southern California.

A coalition of labor, health experts and community organizations is demanding that the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors urgently enact a "circuit breaker" — a strict 4-week lockdown in January to bring the virus under control.

“Hospitals across LA County are bringing in mobile morgues because they know what's coming unless we act decisively," said Dr. Sue Chang, a pathologist with the City of Hope. "As a physician, my priority is saving lives and keeping people healthy. I have done all that I can. I'm looking at the Board is Supervisors and asking if they have done all that they can, or if they plan to continue making the false choice between saving lives and saving jobs.”

Even though there is hope that the new vaccines will help stem the tide of COVID-19 cases sweeping across the nation that has seen an excess of 310,000 deaths and 317,000 million infections, (as of Dec. 17) there is still a need to practice safety measures to halt its spread.

Across the county, there have been 566,005 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 8,568 deaths, both numbers which are continually rising.

At a press briefing Wednesday, L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said there were 4,656 people hospitalized with COVID-19, 21% of whom were in the ICU. On average, she said, every hour two people in LA. County are dying from the COVID-19.

“We’re experiencing an explosive and very deadly surge,” Ferrer said. “These are extraordinary, extraordinary numbers and they represent transmission that continues to be out of control.”

In a letter to the Board, the coalition called for "bold action and leadership" to institute a "circuit breaker" in L.A. County in order to lower cases to relieve the pressure on hospitals and healthcare workers, allow state and local health agencies to strengthen the testing and tracing system, and allow the system to work better to prevent future surges in viral transmission. The circuit-breaker, the coalition explained, is a limited-time measure that includes curfews and the closure of all nonessential businesses with safety nets in place for businesses to stay closed and workers to stay safe at home.

The victims of the deadly virus are overwhelmingly essential workers, poor people, and people of color. Asian Americans who become infected with COVID-19 are over four times as likely to die compared to other Angelenos, cites the letter. Latinos in Los Angeles are dying of COVID-19 at twice the rate of white people. One in three Black Americans personally know someone who has died of COVID-19.  Residents of high poverty areas are dying at nearly twice the rate of wealthier residents. 

“As the lead team of Kanlungan.net, a digital memorial for healthcare workers of Philippine ancestry who continue to perish from the virus, we know full well the relentless loss and grief roiling through our families and communities," added Ninotchka Rosca, AF3IRM and Kanlungan.net. 

"We are offended by the half-hearted “'lockdowns' which, without adequate financial support, make staying at home a matter of privilege rather than a pandemic necessity. We call for a genuine lockdown now,” said Rosca. 

The first known death from COVID-19 in L.A. County was a Filipino and surveys by the National Nurses Union has found that a third of healthcare workers who have died from the virus are of Filipino descent.

With LA County contributing over $710 billion GDP to the U.S. economy, the county has the financial power to provide the necessary safety nets to businesses, workers, and families directly impacted by closures, cite's the coalition's letter. The coalition is also pushing the Board of Supervisors to demand urgent state and federal funds for safety nets to allow businesses to stay closed and workers to stay safe at home.

Los Angeles County is the largest governmental body in California — and is also leading the state in cases and deaths. The case rate in Los Angeles is nearly four times that of San Francisco’s. This shows clearly that this is not just a failure of leadership at the federal level, as our local leaders like to claim.

It is just not Los Angeles being impacted by the virus. With the largest population in the nation, the state also has the most COVID-19 cases and number of deaths caused by the coronavirus. Except for the rural parts of Northern California, available ICU beds are below 15% in most of the state. In some, such as Marin County, there are zero beds available. 

As the coronavirus made its way to the U.S. earlier this year, it looked as though California was going to be spared the epidemic that was devastating the Eastern Seaboard -- New York, in particular -- because California was the first state to implement stay-at-home and social distancing measures. But when the weather warmed, and residents weary from the safety measures, Southern Californians were the first to hit the beaches, the restrictions were loosened. Under pressure from businesses, Newsome complied. The state never recovered.

"This pandemic is disproportionately taking the lives of those in our Black, Latino, Asian and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander communities – many of whom are essential workers in our hospitals,” said Ninez Ponce, a Filipino American professor with the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.

“We have reached a crossroads where only decisive measures can prevent our hospitals from becoming overwhelmed. A time-limited ‘circuit breaker’ can reverse the tide of the epidemic, bring the number of cases down by breaking the chain of infection, and reduce pressure on our healthcare system," said Ponce.

Website pays tribute to the Filipino care givers who perished on the frontline against the deadly COVID-19

 

On the Kanlungan website, one sees row after row of smiling brown faces, most of them immigrated to the U.S. or Great Britain to shore up a gap in health care workers. Hundreds of them. All of them died from the coronavirus.

Finally, a group has taken up the task of honoring the hundreds, thousands of workers -- nurses, health techs, doctors, senior caregivers and related field -- who have died taking care of coronavirus patients.

When the coronavirus began spreading in the U.S., knowing the disproportionate number of Filipino healthcare workers in the U.S. hospitals, I began reporting their deaths.

My purpose was two-fold: One, to pay tribute to the Filipino healthcare workers in the U.S.; Two, to bring attention to the vital role they play in the healthcare system.

It started out one death a week, then two and three a week. Then I began getting reports from Great Britain of the nurses dying in the National Health Service. The task was made. difficult because, back then -- a whole seven months ago but it feels like a year -- no one was keeping track of the ethnicity of the fatalities from the coronavirus. Finally, the task overwhelmed me, a lone blog written by an ex-journalist. I gave up because they were coming in too fast.

Today, it is hard to keep pace. It feels like the deaths of Filipino caregivers working in hospital ERs and CCUs, group homes for seniors  or assisted living facilities is being recorded daily. 

The Kanlungan website was founded by Jollene Levid, a Los Angeles resident, who noted the difficulty of keeping track of all the Filipinos dying from the pandemic.

After a couple of aunts died after contracting the virus from paitents they were caring for, she found out that no one had a data based identifying the Filipino victims.

"Every single day, we're still combing the news. We're still checking to see if more testimony have been submitted by loved ones," Levid told an NPR interviewer. 

Making the task more difficult is that many hospitals and care facilities don't record the race of employees claimed by the virus. Clues of their ethnicity come their name or a photo, searching through their social media.

Kanlungan, which means "refuge" or "sanctuary," was created as a memorial to the people of Philippine ancestry who make up a huge sector of the global healthcare system. "This to remember them as human beings," says the website, "not simply as a labor percentage, a disease statistic or an immigration number."

What is surprising is according to Kanlungan data, three times the number of Filipino healthcare workers have perished in the United States than in the Philippines.

The Philippines continues to be the leading exporter of professional nurses to the U.S., although the ways they immigrate have changed over time, says UC Berkeley ethnic studies professor Catherine Ceniza Choy, author of the 2003 book, "Empire of Care," based on her research on nursing and migration in Filipino American history.

About one-third of all foreign-born nurses in the U.S. are Filipino. And because they are most likely to work in acute care, medical/surgical, and ICU nursing, many “FilAms” are on the front lines of care for Covid-19 patients.

Since the 1960s, there have been over 150,000 Filipino nurses who have migrated to the U.S. They make up about 4% of the registered nurses in the country. In California, Filipinos make up about 20% of the nurses.

Added to this number are multiple generations of U.S.-born Filipino Americans who carry on the family tradition of nursing.

Kanlungang is supported as a project of AF3IRM, formerly known as GABRIELA. "a transnational feminist organization."

AF3IRM is an acronym, which stands for Association of Filipinas, Feminists Fighting Imperialism, Re-Feudalization, and Marginalization. The Filipinas in our name refers to our history prior to our evolution to becoming AF3IRM — we previously organized as GABRIELA Network. It’s not an easy acronym but it speaks to how we are anti-imperialist, transnational feminist and against oppression in all its forms,” said Barbara Ramos, AF3IRM's communications director in the Los Angeles Times.

If you wish to honor a healthcare worker of Filipino descent who died from the virus, submit your information here.