New York State

How will the city’s most vulnerable weather the crisis?

Economic and health disparities create new challenges for New Yorkers amid the pandemic.

Dr. Oxiris Barbot, Commissioner of New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, alongside Mayor de Blasio.

Dr. Oxiris Barbot, Commissioner of New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, alongside Mayor de Blasio. Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office

Some people – including Gov. Andrew Cuomo – have described the coronavirus as an equalizer, transmitted to people despite class or race. But it increasingly seems that the pandemic may actually be exposing existing vulnerabilities. Black and Latino New Yorkers are dying from COVID-19 at twice the rate of white residents, and outbreaks have clustered on communities with higher poverty and a greater number of essential workers. 

“The underlying drivers that have contributed to health inequities that we were trying to address … have absolutely wreaked havoc during this public health emergency,” said Oxiris Barbot, commissioner of New York City’s health department, during City & State’s webinar on Tuesday. 

Black and Latino residents are disproportionately low-income, which means they are more likely to lack access to regular nutritious food, to face housing insecurity and other factors that worsen health outcomes. This means black and Latino communities see higher rates of chronic medical conditions that make them particularly vulnerable to COVID-19. Most essential workers in New York City are also black or Hispanic, according to a report from the city comptroller’s office, which puts them at greater risk of exposure as well.

New York City put an emphasis on multilingual educational outreach on the virus through calls, mailings and social media, Barbot said. But New York City Councilman Francisco Moya, who represents one of the hardest hit neighborhoods in the city, said better communication would’ve been key to mitigating the crisis – especially for the Latino community. 

“We needed to really get that information out much earlier,” he said. “And that's where the difference is, for me, in communities like ours.”

Given the disparities that have emerged from the outset of the health crisis, there are lingering concerns about how accessible potential treatments and vaccines will be in the future.

“One of the things the city is really leveraging, and lucky to have, is a robust system of public hospitals,” Barbot said, emphasizing that these hospitals offer care regardless of immigration status or insurance access. 

Health outcomes aren’t the only vulnerability being exposed by the crisis, however. Economic fallout and skyrocketing unemployment has led to unprecedented demand for food assistance – including among seniors who are at high risk during the pandemic. One of the New York City Department for the Aging’s meal delivery initiatives – which has since been transitioned into the city’s overall emergency food plan – saw demand for help jump up from 25,000 people a day to 44,000 within a week, the agency’s commissioner, Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez, said. 

“We know that that demand and that need is going to be greater and continues to grow every day,” she said.

Loneliness has already led to physical and mental health challenges for older adults before the pandemic. And with many group settings where seniors congregate being closed, some are fearing a mental health crisis among the elderly. Senior centers are trying to fill the gaps with wellness checks by phone or video.

“The most difficult (part) is when you have to hang up, and they want to continue speaking,” said Anderson Torres, president and CEO of R.A.I.N. Total Care, which operates 13 seniors centers in the city, “because that perhaps may have been the only connection that they've had during the day in light of this isolation.”

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.