COVID Update: Monday, May 24

Former Councilmember John Duran has been doing daily COVID updates on his Facebook page since March 2020. Many members of the community have found them helpful. They are republished here with his permission.

175 new COVID Cases announced in LA County yesterday along with 5 additional deaths.  Positivity rate stays low at half of one percent.  Hospitalizations slightly up but still low.  

VACCINATION GAP BETWEEN ECONOMIC CLASSES 

The NY Times has an interesting read this morning on the vaccination gap based on class.   Much bigger than the vaccination gap on races or partisanship.

We hear a lot (and I have posted about it) the gap between Republicans and Democrats.  Or the gap between White and Asian residents versus Black and Brown residents.  

For Republicans, the attitude is connected to a general skepticism towards government and science.  For Black and Latino voters, it is connected to the country’s history of substandard medical treatment or harm to racial minorities.  

But there is a truth obscured in these observations.  Many of these unvaccinated Republicans and racial minorities are working class people.  There is a huge class gap in vaccination behavior.  

The Kaiser Family Foundation constructed polling and charts on these disparities.    Working class members of the Republican Party and Blacks and Latinos – tend to be most skeptical of vaccines.   There is an education divide.  Black and white college educated graduates get vaccinated at the same levels.  

Asian Americans have a higher median income and higher levels of education – which is also consistent with higher levels of vaccination.  

Latinos skew a bit differently with the unvaccinated.  Many of these Latinos have expressed that they want a shot but just haven’t had the time/opportunity to get one.  

A book called “Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism” written by economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton has documented the growing class divide in America.   Income and wealth have grown much more quickly in the past decades for people with college degrees than those without one.   Marriage, church attendance and self reported happiness have declined more for the working class than the professional class.   And chronic pain, obesity and alcohol consumption have increased more for the working class.    As the book title suggests, this also means that life expectancy has diverged between the 2 classes with the working class more likely to suffer despair, suicide, overdose and alcoholism.  

For many working class people, life lacks the structure, status and meaning that it used to have.   Frequently, people are not officially employed by the company where they work.  There are no pensions.   They don’t belong to a labor union.   And many are single parents without the benefit of two incomes to raise children.  

This produces many COVID vaccination challenges.  They do not trust people in authority.   Carving out the time for not just one shot – but two – and having to cope with side effects becomes vey difficult for people trying to keep roofs over the head and children fed.  

One of the bigger challenges is education about the virus and vaccinations.   About 25% of the unvaccinated remain unsure whether somebody who previously had COVID should still get the vaccine (according to the Kaiser poll).  The answer is YES.  Almost everybody 12 years of age or older SHOULD get the vaccine even if you have already had COVID.  

The other promising strategy involves employers giving employees paid time off to go get the shots.   Or bringing the vaccines into the workplace for the sake of convenience.  

We are going to beat COVID.  But there are still millions out there who haven’t received a vaccine for logistical or educational reasons.   Can’t give up the fight for wide spread vaccinations.   It is the key to our future rebound, resiliency and restoration.   

Still not vaccinated?  YES!  It’s your turn!  

Sunny today and 86 degrees!   Summer and Memorial Day are almost here !