Apr 10, 2021 - Health

Working-age, young Latinos face disproportionately high COVID death rates in U.S.

Marina E. Franco (Noticias Telemundo for Axios)

Ricardo "El Profe" Castorena, right, of the non-profit Binational of Central California, gives a mask to a farmworker in the fields of Selma last December. Photo: Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Working-age and young Latinos face disproportionately high COVID-19 death rates as states move toward reopening. Foreign-born Latinos who work essential or front-line jobs are especially in peril.

The big picture: A foreign-born Latino worker in California is 11.6 times more likely to died from COVID-19 than any other non-Hispanic U.S.-born group, according to a new USC study.

In New Jersey, one of five states with the largest amount of new cases, young Latino men are dying at seven times the rate of white men and even 4.5 times the rate of Latina women.

The bottom line: The imbalances highlight the urgent need for vaccination campaigns to directly reach a population that is overrepresented in industries many depend on, like agriculture and food processing.

Organizations like Planned Parenthood and United Farm Workers have launched grassroots projects to vaccinate people of color who are front-line workers.

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Working-age, young Latinos face disproportionately high COVID death rates in U.S.

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