Immigrant and refugee communities are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 due to pre-existing social and health disparities. Communities with limited English proficiency have elevated rates of hospitalization particularly in Washington state. King County has limited knowledge of community testing needs due to the lack of disaggregated data. Our team has collaborated with the Somali Health Board (SHB) to explore the barriers to COVID-19 testing within the King County Somali Community, where approximately 30,000 Somali immigrants reside. We administered anonymous surveys to Somali and non-Somali participants aged ≥18 (n=540) at testing fairs in South King County and recruited through community outreach. Survey data were used to quantitatively determine prevalence and correlates of timely COVID-19 testing within the King County Somali Community (defined as testing within 2 days of symptom onset). We conducted in-depth interviews with healthcare workers (n=5) and policymakers (n=5) to qualitatively explore the barriers and facilitators of testing in the community. We hosted two virtual focus group discussions -- one female-identifying group (n=10) and one male-identifying group (n=10) -- with members from the Somali community to gather personal experiences of COVID-19 testing barriers and concerns. Our preliminary results suggest that there is a trend towards longer time from symptom onset to test for Somali respondents and that Somali respondents face various barriers to testing ranging from misinformation to transportation. Our findings help identify community barriers to COVID-19 testing and how they can be adequately mitigated to improve access and promote equity in King County’s pandemic response.

Due to capitalist and racially motivated social structures that uphold white supremacy, resources are not adequately distributed to Black, Brown and marginalized communities. These systems maximize profits by maintaining power hierarchies between leadership boards and communities, subordinating those that are not represented in positions of power. We must increase funding for these marginalized communities’ health services and systems accountability. The Tubman Center aims to establish a new funding system for healthcare organizations that restores power to historically marginalized communities. Our study investigates how power hierarchies are represented in funding distribution to identify which funding practices must be disrupted to build a healthcare model that promotes the health of its constituency groups. We gathered information from government and community websites, and carried out interviews with Seattle Council members and a Washington State Representative to gain further insight on power hierarchies in our health system. Using a Power Analysis grid, we placed researched entities, organizations, and influential people in relation to each other; the x-axis corresponds to entities’ inclination towards our agenda or the opposing agenda, while the y-axis corresponds to how influential an entity is and their power to influence healthcare policies. Our findings reveal a complex system where money is distributed based on the agendas of larger businesses and corporations. Additionally, we found gaps in information for where funding originates and the process by which money is allocated. One recommendation for future research would be to incorporate more community voices to create Power Analysis Grids for other public health systems.

This research paper examines the impact of the coronavirus disease in the low-income communities located in Chicago, IL. The COVID-19 pandemic has been a drastic tragedy to all of mankind across the world. During this time, the disease has presented complex disengagement in people's lives and caused certain communities to have inequalities through education, occupation, and financial difficulties. In this research, readers will be able to use the United States Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey Data, data samples from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, and interviews from people that have been impacted by COVID-19 to conclude how the coronavirus disease created conditions that widened the inequality gap. There are maps which detail essential workers households and states that many essential workers reside in lower-income neighborhoods. Trends reveal the disadvantage in some areas are caused by the historical effects of segregation and discrimination in Chicago. On the other hand, affordable housing in Chicago before the COVID-19 pandemic started was difficult to locate. Low-income families have been using more than fifty percent of their income on rental properties, which cost many renters to decipher between food, healthcare, and rent. You can imagine for a household family that is having a problem with making rent payments monthly might have to make unmanageable choices between paying for childcare, medicine, schooling due to their loss of an occupation because of the coronavirus disease pandemic.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, migrant workers became “essential” overnight. For migrant essential workers, it is important to understand how migrant status and often low socioeconomic status has unique challenges for our understanding of how the COVID-19 pandemic impacts this group. In order to better understand their daily struggle, this exploratory study aims to document the experiences of migrant “essential” workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with migrant “essential” workers within a local county. Preliminary themes that emerged are the lack of financial support, increase in mental health struggles, and the concern of infecting their family members. Findings will provide a better understanding of the communities’ vulnerabilities and experiences to address policy health, health inequities, and impact on migrant essential workers’ mental and physical health as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This knowledge will contribute to efforts in public health and health equity towards migrant health to fulfill gaps in health disparities and access to resources.