Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most dramatic events recently affecting the world. Coronavirus resulted in an unprecedented crisis that brought adverse economic, social, and medical consequences. In the United States alone, the pandemic has already resulted in more than 986,000 cases (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022). Therefore, the pandemic of COVID-19 has become the challenge the international community faced, and the American society was not the exception.
Specific risk factors result in Hispanics being more subject to COVID-19 impact. Comparatively low income, racial discrimination in the access to healthcare, and social-economic peculiarities are among the factors that lead to severe adverse outcomes of COVID-19 among the Hispanic population. Discriminatory factors that lead to the extreme epidemiological situation among Hispanics in the United States reflect the general social, economic, and racial inequality, which shows the importance of cause and effect relationships in public healthcare.
Summary of the Impact of Historical Epidemiological Research
It is essential to understand how coronavirus is represented among the selected population. For example, Trick et al. (2021) stipulate that Hispanics suffered from a more rapid spread of COVID-19 compared to non-Hispanic Blacks and Whites. This outcome is not unique in the research field because many scholars produce similar results. In particular, scientific evidence demonstrates that a higher proportion of the Hispanic population in a state is associated with increased mortality rates from coronavirus (Veer et al., 2020). In addition, analysis of a specific healthcare setting reveals that Hispanics are disproportionately represented as COVID-19 patients. In particular, more than 47% of all emergency department patients in Rhode Island were Hispanic (Veer et al., 2020). This information can demonstrate that the given pandemic represents a more significant epidemiological burden for the selected population.
In addition, it is reasonable to comment on what conditions can be associated with the given state of affairs. For example, Kricorian and Turner (2021) comment that Hispanic individuals are less likely to receive COVID-19 vaccination. It is impossible to mention whether this fact can be considered a leading cause of the disease spread, but such a connection should not be ignored. Other studies also focus on the issue and stipulate that being of Hispanic ethnicity can be a significant risk factor for coronavirus hospital readmission (Sandoval et al., 2021). Since the findings demonstrate that the condition is essential for the selected population, it seems reasonable to conduct another study to investigate the epidemiology of COVID-19 among Hispanics living in the United States.
The risk factors associated with a disproportionally high incidence of COVID-19 among Hispanic individuals living in the United States of America are diverse. In most cases, they are connected with the specific environmental, social, or health conditions that are more represented among the selected population. Poverty, low income, living in extended families and numerous communities, inadequate access to vaccination, chronic diseases, and immigrant status are among the reasons Hispanic individuals are more subjected to the COVID-19 virus (Maani & Galea, 2020). It is vital to understand the causes that lead to the spread of the coronavirus infection among the Hispanic population and the adverse outcomes of this epidemiological situation. A clear vision of the reasons that lead to it might help public health professionals and state officials to reduce the risks for Hispanic Americans and to improve the situation with COVID-19.
Ethical Considerations
The biased sources of the information for the research are the primary ethical consideration. It is critical to understand whether the information is written from the perspective of the ethnic minority or the dominant majority that disregards the details of the life of the minority population. The dominant perspective on the Hispanic population and their access to healthcare can be regarded as the example that proves the inability of this group to integrate into society, which is a destructive and prejudged point of view.
Therefore, when one needs to conduct an epidemiological study, it is rational to draw significant attention to the data sources that will be further used. For this paper, the epidemiological sources and sources that focus on ethnic inequalities in the access to healthcare are used. Currently, scientists can rely on different options to collect the required information. It is impossible to mention which sources are better or worse because each offers advantages and disadvantages. This statement denotes that the same information sources can be ideal for one study and utterly useless for others. That is why it is reasonable to consider what information sources are used in other epidemiological studies.
Discussion of the Etiology
The primary confounders in this research study include race, income, economic status, and social factors connected with the culture of the Hispanic population. According to data compiled by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Hispanics have been at a higher risk of hospitalization or death from COVID-19 than other racial and ethnic groups in the U.S. Race and ethnicity is a markers for risk factors such as lack of access to health care, low social-economic position that supposes regular exposure to the coronavirus from jobs that require frequent contact with others, and cultural issues including life in the extended families and neglect to own health.
It is possible to explain the limited access to healthcare services with the immigrant status of many Hispanics in the United States. It is often connected with document problems, inability to ask for medical help due to issues with an official residence, and anxiety towards governmental institutions. Even though it is impossible to compare the representatives of the hospitals with the police, most immigrants do not want to encounter officials to avoid possible problems. Those Hispanics, who do not have a legal basis for living and working in the United States, are afraid of deportation and a ban on returning to the country in the future, which makes them avoid asking for medical help (Maani & Galea, 2020). No need to say that this situation leads to the increased number of COVID-19 and adverse health outcomes for these people.
Moreover, the inability or lack of desire among Hispanic immigrants to ask for medical help leads to the absence of access to vaccination. As a result, these people become infected with COVID-19 and spread the infection more rapidly than the vaccinated population. It is vital to mention the cultural aspect that endangers more people of Hispanic origin during the pandemic. Hispanic communities usually consist of extended families where several generations live together, helping each other. As a result, lack of access to vaccination from the coronavirus infection and mistrust towards official institutions, including hospitals, leads to a severe problem (Maani & Galea, 2020). The disease spreads among several generations of people, affecting the elderly in the same community, which increases the chances of death from COVID-19.
Another issue that causes the spread of COVID-19 among Hispanics and disproportionately adverse outcomes of the disease is the comparatively low income of most populations from this ethnic minority. Malnutrition, inability to spend money on regular check-ups and healthcare, hard work, long hours, and lack of adequate physical activity lead to chronic health problems. Chronic illnesses aggravate the human reaction to the coronavirus infection, and these patients require additional medical help and constant supervision of healthcare professionals (Maani & Galea, 2020). No need to say that the limited financial opportunities of the Hispanic population do not allow these people to find high-quality and consistent medical help.
Elements of Causality (Hill’s Criteria)
Hill’s causality criteria reflect the minimal conditions necessary for creating the cause and effect relationship. The first is the temporal relationship, which supposes that certain factors cause the spread of the infection (Aschengrau & Seage, 2020). In the case of the reach of COVID-19 among the Hispanic population in the United States and their disproportionately profound suffering from this disease, these facts are social-economic inequality and cultural differences. According to Hill’s classification, the second criterion is the most substantial factor showing severe problems (Aschengrau & Seage, 2020). In the case of coronavirus infection, the statistics show that the number of deaths and adverse health outcomes is higher among Hispanic Americans than in other ethnic groups.
The previously mentioned statistical information about the spread of COVID-19 among various ethnic groups in the United States shows that Hispanics suffer from the adverse outcomes of the disease more than White Americans or Asian Americans. This information reflects the third issue in Hill’s classification of the dose-response relationship that supposes that greater exposure to the infection leads to a greater incidence of the negative effect (Aschengrau & Seage, 2020). The notion of specificity assumes that the negative impact occurs among a particular group from the entire population (Aschengrau & Seage, 2020). The findings, in this case, are consistent because the same effect can be seen in different places, and it is characteristic of the group of Hispanic Americans.
Plausibility shows that the connection between cause and effect helps cope with the situation. The coherence aspect offers the relationship between the scientific proofs and the epidemiological assumptions (Aschengrau & Seage, 2020). The experiment should support this idea, which allows the researchers to make generalizations about the spread of the virus and come up with analogies (Aschengrau & Seage, 2020). It is possible to find similar examples connected with the spread of such infections as tuberculosis that are easily transmitted in communities with a high population density and low level of access to health care.
Conclusion
The COVID-19 pandemic emphasized the existing inequalities in the United States. The illness affected millions of people internationally, but it is impossible to state that all population groups witnessed the same impact. Some groups experienced mild effects, while others faced a disproportionally high burden of coronavirus. Hispanics residing in the United States are a suitable example of the population that significantly suffered from COVID-19, and the adverse outcomes for this ethnic group were more severe than other Americans. It is possible to explain it with the social factors, economic inequality, and cultural peculiarities characteristic of Hispanic Americans.
References
Aschengrau, A., & Seage, G. R., III. (2020). Essentials of epidemiology in public health. Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022). COVID-19. Web.
Kricorian, K., & Turner, K. (2021). COVID-19 Vaccine acceptance and beliefs among Black and Hispanic Americans. PLOS ONE, 16(8), e0256122. Web.
Maani, N., & Galea, S. (2020). COVID-19 and underinvestment in the health of the US population. The Milbank Quarterly, 98(2), 239–249. Web.
Sandoval, J. L, Petrovic, D., Guessous, I., Stringhini, S. (2021). Health insurance deductibles and health care–seeking behaviors in a consumer-driven health care system with universal coverage. JAMA Netw Open. 4(7) :e2115722. Web.
Trick, W., Badri, S., Doshi, K., Zhang, H., Rezai, K., Hoffman, M., & Weinstein, R. (2021). Epidemiology of COVID-19 vs. influenza: Differential failure of COVID-19 mitigation among Hispanics, Cook County Health, Illinois. PLOS ONE, 16(1), e0240202. Web.
Veer, I., Riepenhausen, A., Zerban, M., Wackerhagen, C., Engen, H., & Puhlmann, L. et al. (2020). Mental resilience to stressor prevalence and severity during the Corona lockdown in Europe. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 119, 104984. Web.