Tag: disparities

COVID-19 outreach events reach hundreds of needy families

Ethnic disparity in positive cases appears to drop
by Leslie Layton | Posted October 19, 2020

photo by Kate Sheehy/Semillas
Reyna Nolta from the Hispanic Resource Council at the COVID-19 prevention event in Orland on Saturday.

A COVID-19 prevention campaign targeting low-income and minority communities in the region — that public health officials believe has been effective — is reaching hundreds of families as it winds down for this calendar year.

Spearheaded by the Hispanic Resource Council of Northern California, staffers from a host of social service agencies and Butte County Public Health have distributed more than 2,000 masks, more than 1,000 bottles of hand sanitizer, information packets and educational materials translated into Spanish at events throughout the North State. The latest events, held Oct. 17 in Orland, Chico and Oroville, were the last big projects in the 2020 prevention campaign although other facets of the campaign will continue. read more

Hispanic Resource Council launches COVID outreach campaign

COVID testing fear a problem
by Leslie Layton | Posted August 13, 2020

Reyna Nolta and the Chico-based group she works with knew, shortly after Independence Day, that they had been called to act.

She had read and been interviewed for a July 4 ChicoSol story that reported on the disproportionate way in which COVID-19 was slamming the Latino community in Butte County. Now, the Hispanic Resource Council of Northern California (HRCNC) – an organization with a clunky name but a trustworthy reputation — has in a matter of weeks organized five events targeting Latino, Black and Hmong families with information and supplies to stem the spread of the virus.

The first PPE (personal protective equipment) giveaway was a success, and the second will be held from 3 p.m.-7 p.m. Aug. 22 at 1003 Newport Ave, Orland (at the Rancho de Soto apartments.) Events will also be held on following weekends in Oroville, Chico and Palermo and announced on ChicoSol. read more

Butte County Latinos hit hardest by pandemic

City of Gridley now claims 35 percent of county's total cases
by Leslie Layton | Posted July 4, 2020
Butte County Public Health says 41 percent of the total COVID-19 cases, through June, were people identifying as Hispanic.

Butte County’s Latino residents are becoming infected with COVID-19 at an alarmingly disproportionate rate, a reflection of the disparities surfacing throughout the nation that show low-income, immigrant and other minority communities hardest hit by the pandemic.

Figures released earlier this week to ChicoSol in response to a Public Records Act request show that people identifying as Hispanic comprised 41 percent of 164 Butte County residents who had tested positive for COVID-19 through June 28. Latinos and/or Hispanics make up less than 15 percent of the county’s population, according to estimates, but belong to what is by far the county’s largest minority group.

On Thursday, Butte County Public Health Department announced a third COVID-related death, but released no information on the patient’s town of residence or race as a privacy measure. read more