Migrant workers, essential work, and COVID‐19

Reid, Alison; Rhonda-Perez, Elena; Schenker, Marc B.

doi:10.1002/ajim.23209

Cited by 88 publications

(83 citation statements)

References 9 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…A review of clinical outcomes and risk factors for COVID-19 [13] found that migrants were at increased risk of infection and were disproportionately represented among COVID-19 cases and deaths in high-income countries. Comorbidities, barriers related to language, health seeking and health care, cramped housing, risky work, and working conditions [14,15] have been identified as risk factors and vulnerabilities, leading to higher virus exposure. In Germany, migrants are highly represented in occupations with system relevance and thus a higher potential exposition to the virus such as cleaning workers, workers in food production, or nursing of the elderly [16].…”

Section: Ethnic Minorities and Migrantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regional Characteristics of the Second Wave of SARS-CoV-2 Infections and COVID-19 Deaths in Germany

Doblhammer

Kreft

Reinke

2021

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

(1) Background: In the absence of individual level information, the aim of this study was to identify the regional key features explaining SARS-CoV-2 infections and COVID-19 deaths during the upswing of the second wave in Germany. (2) Methods: We used COVID-19 diagnoses and deaths from 1 October to 15 December 2020, on the county-level, differentiating five two-week time periods. For each period, we calculated the age-standardized COVID-19 incidence and death rates on the county level. We trained gradient boosting models to predict the incidence and death rates by 155 indicators and identified the top 20 associations using Shap values. (3) Results: Counties with low socioeconomic status (SES) had higher infection and death rates, as had those with high international migration, a high proportion of foreigners, and a large nursing home population. The importance of these characteristics changed over time. During the period of intense exponential increase in infections, the proportion of the population that voted for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in the last federal election was among the top characteristics correlated with high incidence and death rates. (4) Machine learning approaches can reveal regional characteristics that are associated with high rates of infection and mortality.

show abstract

Section: Ethnic Minorities and Migrantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regional Characteristics of the Second Wave of SARS-CoV-2 Infections and COVID-19 Deaths in Germany

Doblhammer

Kreft

Reinke

2021

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Migrant workers in essential industries from agriculture, to meat packing, to home healthcare across the globe have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. 12 This problem is further evidenced by an overall COVID-19 infection prevalence greater than 50% among 200,000 migrant workers residing in high-density housing in Singapore. 13 Providing COVID-19 vaccines to these populations is of utmost ethical importance in the global pandemic response, 14 and success in ending this pandemic will be heavily weighted on the foresight, planning, and execution of this vaccine provision.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Ensuring COVID-19 Vaccines for Migrant and Immigrant Farmworkers

Thomas

Liebman

Galván

et al. 2021

The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Migrant and immigrant farmworkers are cornerstones to food security and production in many nations. In the United States, farmworkers have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. Because they are considered essential workers, vaccines may be made imminently available to them and offer an opportunity to reduce these COVID-19–related impacts. It is essential for a successful vaccination campaign to address the unique challenges arising from this workforce’s inherently mobile nature and limited access to healthcare. Proposed strategies to overcome these challenges include ensuring farmworkers are prioritized in vaccine allocation and provided cost-free vaccines at convenient locations through partnerships among health authorities, community- and faith-based groups, and health centers with trusted community relationships. Further, a portable immunization record should be used, and coordination of care continued when a farmworker moves to a new geographic location. If implemented well, vaccinating farmworkers can reduce the COVID-19 disease burden among these essential workers, improve public health, and protect food and agriculture production.

show abstract

“…This is not just a US but a global issue. As Reid, Rhonda-Perez, and Schenker (2021, 73) note, essential migrant workers could “be a Bulgarian worker at a meat processing plant in Germany, a Central American farmworker in the fields of California, or a Filipino worker at an aged-care facility in Australia.” COVID-19 has highlighted the precarious working conditions of many essential workers, even before the pandemic struck.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Virus Without Papers: Understanding COVID-19 and the Impact on Immigrant Communities

Kiester¹,

Vasquez-Merino

2021

Journal on Migration and Human Security

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the inequalities facing vulnerable populations: those living in economically precarious situations and lacking adequate health care. In addition, frontline workers deemed essential to meet our basic needs have faced enormous personal risk to keep earning their paychecks and the economy running. Immigrant communities face an intersection of all three vulnerabilities (e.g., economic precarity, health care barriers, essential workforce), making them one of the most vulnerable populations in the United States. We conducted 26 interviews via Zoom with immigrant service providers in Pennsylvania and New York, including lawyers, case workers, religious leaders, advocates, doctors, and educators in order to gain a better understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on immigrant communities. These interviews affirmed that immigrants are concentrated in essential industries, which increases their exposure to the virus. In addition, they lack access to social safety nets when trying to access health care or facing job/income loss. Last, COVID-19 did not adequately slow the detention and deportation machine in the United States, which led to increased transmission of the virus among not only detainees but also others in the detention system, surrounding communities, and the countries to which people were deported, countries that often lacked an adequate infrastructure for dealing with the pandemic. Based on our interviews, we have a series of specific policy recommendations to diminish the vulnerability of immigrants and create social safety nets that will include them and protect them when the market fails to do so. Immigrants of all types have made indispensable contributions to the US economy during the pandemic and before it. First, Congress and states should pass legislation to provide COVID-19 relief payments to all essential workers, regardless of their status, as compensation for putting their lives on the line to keep the economy running. Second, as a public health imperative, federal and state governments should expand coverage of Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Programs (CHIP) to include immigrant essential workers and their children, regardless of their status. Third, DHS should not refer essential workers to removal proceedings, and immigration courts should terminate all removal proceedings for essential workers without criminal records. When it comes to issues of health care affordability and access, Congress must continue to revise the Affordable Healthcare Act to expand coverage for those who do not qualify for Medicaid but earn too little to afford insurance on their own. Finally, there must be a review and rigorous enforcement of workplace health and safety standards, particularly when it comes to farming, meatpacking, food production, and food service industries. Our final recommendations are specific to DHS and two of the primary agencies they oversee: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Border Patrol. First, there needs to be a review of ICE policies and practices, leading to a shift in policy that keeps mixed-status families intact and minor children out of detention centers and that streamlines and expands the asylum process. Second, both Congress and the administration must create additional paths to legal status where none now exist, including for recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and for children who have arrived since June 2007.

show abstract

Migrant workers, essential work, and COVID‐19

Cited by 88 publications

References 9 publications

Regional Characteristics of the Second Wave of SARS-CoV-2 Infections and COVID-19 Deaths in Germany

Regional Characteristics of the Second Wave of SARS-CoV-2 Infections and COVID-19 Deaths in Germany

Ensuring COVID-19 Vaccines for Migrant and Immigrant Farmworkers

A Virus Without Papers: Understanding COVID-19 and the Impact on Immigrant Communities

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About