According to data from the 2019 U . S . Census Bureau population estimates , “ There are 60.5 million Hispanics living in the United States . This group represents 18.4 percent of the U . S . total population ” ( OMH , 2021 ).
To understand how COVID-19 is impacting Hispanic communities in particular , it ’ s important to acknowledge the factors contributing to the existing gaps in accessing health and healthcare impacting the Hispanic population .
The CDC suggests , “ Hispanic health is often shaped by factors such as language / cultural barriers , lack of access to preventive care , and the lack of health insurance ” ( OMH , 2021 ).
The following five obstacles provide insight into some of the primary factors affecting these communities :
1
LANGUAGE AND CULTURAL BARRIERS : Census data from 2019 shows that approximately seven in 10 Hispanics speak a language other than English at home and some 28.4 percent are not fluent in English ( OMH , 2021 ). Communication is vital to patient care and impacts the quality of care received , and yet many Hispanic adults report difficulty finding a doctor that shares their cultural background and “ explains things in a way that is easy to understand ” ( Artiga et al ., 2021 ).
3