Specific Communities Affected by COVID 19
Steering Committee
May 26, 2022
As we all begin to settle into the changes the COVID-19 pandemic has brought our world, we are starting to see variations on a theme. While the pandemic has certainly affected all of us, some communities were hit harder than others. The pandemic has brought to the forefront many of the disparities that exist in our world. In particular, children of color were disproportionately affected by many of the negative effects of the pandemic.
Preliminary data shows that COVID-19 has disproportionately affected the health of children of color much in the same way as it has affected adults. Studies have found that Black, Latinx, and Asian children had lower testing rates but were significantly more likely to be infected.
Other findings include:
- Black And Latinx children were more likely to be hospitalized and to have contracted multisystemic inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) – a serious, and sometimes deadly, condition that causes body parts to become inflamed, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, and brain
- Black children were more likely to be admitted to hospital intensive care units (ICU) due to MIS-C
- Latinx, Black, and American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) children had higher rates of death
- Infection rates were highest among children from Latinx, AIAN, and Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islanders (NHOPI) backgrounds
- ASIAN and Latinx children had the highest hospitalization rates, followed by NHOPI and Black children – who were two to three times as likely to be hospitalized than White children
- Rate for Black children was 2.7 times that of White children
Unfortunately at this time, there is very little data available on vaccination rates for children broken down by race/ethnicity. But what we do know is that Latinx and Black parents report more potential access barriers to vaccination such as not being able to obtain the vaccine from a trusted source, having transportation issues to even get to a vaccine, believing that they must pay for the vaccine, and having to take time off work to get the vaccine. Ensuring that families of color have up to date information regarding availability of, and proximity to, vaccinations is important as children have mostly returned to school in person and more and more preventative measures are being dropped.
The impacts for learning are just as disproportionate. While one third of White parents noted that their children fell behind academically in school, half of Latinx parents said their children fell behind academically. Half of Latinx parents also said that their children had trouble concentrating on schoolwork, suffered from sleep, and eating issues, and had frequent headaches and stomach aches during the pandemic. Black and Latinx households were also more likely to experience a job disruption due to childcare needs. Older Black and Latinx children were often tasked with caring for younger children in the household disrupting their ability to attend to their own learning. These disproportionate impacts may further exacerbate existing gaps in academic performance for children of color.
We know that it is difficult for children to learn if they are hungry, sick, and stressed and since families of color have borne the brunt of this pandemic due to inequitable access to health care, income inequality, and disproportionate employment in high-risk, “essential” jobs, it is not a surprise to see these effects. It is well-known, and much research has well-documented, that disparities existed between children of color and White students long before COVID-19 struck. The impact of this pandemic will need to be studied for years to come. In the meantime, schools are left to figure out what will work for their communities to assist those students who are behind and try to close those gaps.
Although we may see the light at the end of the tunnel on the coronavirus crisis, the educational equity crisis is just beginning. In our rush to respond to this public health and education emergency, it is important that we center equity in the educational system so that all students, especially those most impacted by the pandemic and systemic racism, have the support and opportunities they need to achieve their potential.
As we have discussed before, one of the best things we can do for all children, but especially for children of color, is to help them take care of their social and emotional well-being, because we know this supports their academic learning. We need to strive for making schools places where students feel safe, known, and supported so that they can be fully engaged in learning
We can start laying the groundwork for this by:
- Centering relationships
- It is important to connect one-on-one with every family and every student.
- These connections help staff build rapport and trust with students and help families support student learning.
- Time and space dedicated for relationship-building opportunities should be built into the school day.
- Staff should also be supported/trained in creating a safe and positive classroom/school climate.
- Restorative justice practices should be implemented to help children feel physically and psychologically safe in their return to school – these practices help to keep children of color from being subjected to punitive, exclusionary, and racially or otherwise discriminatory discipline practices and systems.
- Addressing the needs of the whole child
- It is important to identify and address the social, emotional, and behavioral issues affecting all children.
- Implementing a universal wellness screening process would be a great first step to help identify the issues facing each child.
- Ensuring that “assessing” the whole child includes not just standardized testing but other diagnostic testing, data on student attendance and engagement, transcripts, and any other data available to help create an action plan for each child that meets their individualized needs.
- The Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) framework could be used to identify those needs.
- Strengthening staffing and partnerships
- Providing opportunities for students to engage in high quality tutoring and mentoring programs – especially with tutors/mentors of the same race/ethnic background – has been proven to foster positive self-image; strengthen social, academic, and life skills; and build trusting relationships between children and adults.
- Ensuring that mental health supports are available when needed.
- Offering expanded learning opportunities through the school or through partnerships with other local agencies.
- Actively supporting student reengagement by ensuring that school staff is trained in trauma-informed and healing-centered approaches
- Making teaching and learning relevant and rigorous
- It is important that the curriculum is high-quality and culturally relevant. Instructional materials and books should be diverse so that students from all racial, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds feel safe, acknowledged, and respected.
- Teachers and other staff should be given the opportunity to engage in professional learning opportunities that gives them strategies and tools for addressing racism, privilege, and bias in their classrooms/programs.
- Allow room for students to be centered in their learning opportunities – allowing room for choice and voice will help students become, and stay, engaged.
- Empowering teams to reimagine and rebuild systems
- Creating teams of diverse individuals to look at how systems are evolving to meet the needs of all students.
- Ensuring that districts/schools are investing resources and time in building relationships, planning, and capacity building is a must.
Districts and schools will need to consider the investments they are making, in time and money, that will help them meet the needs of all the children they are serving. This is a time to look at:
- Hiring practices – are we hiring the right people to do the job?
- Training needs – are we making sure our staff have the skills they need to do the job we are asking of them? Do we need to provide more training? More planning time? More time for collaboration? More team building activities?
- Budget – how and where can we shift to ensure our students have the technology, supplies, and materials they need?
- Relationships – who are our partners? How can they help us meet the needs of our students?
As we move forward from our collective experience of the COVID-19 pandemic, it behooves us to think about all our systems, and wonder – are they meeting the needs of all our children? Are they centered around equity for all? And if the answer is no, then it is time for change. All the suggested evidence-based, equitable actions above can build a system based on restorative practices that will help abolish systemic racial and other inequities that will allow room for all children to flourish
References:
- Racial Disparities in COVID-19 Impacts and Vaccinations for Children
- KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor: The Impact Of The Coronavirus Pandemic On The Wellbeing Of Parents And Children
- Addressing Inequities in Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic: How Education Policy and Schools Can Support Historically and Currently Marginalized Children and Youth
- COVID-19, the Educational Equity Crisis, and the Opportunity Ahead
- A Decade of Research on the Rich-Poor Divide in Education
- Restarting School with Equity at the Center
Resources:
View/Download Copy of Article