DECEMBER 2020 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 33
Minority seniors are at higher risk of the pandemic’s negative impacts. (Getty Images)
COVID’S HARDEST HIT
STUDY REVEALS PANDEMIC’S DEEPER IMPACT ON MINORITY SENIORS
BY BRIANA BONFIGLIO
Older New Yorkers of color have been most severely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic,
which is further widening existing race-based gaps in health, housing, and food insecurity,
according to a new research study by AARP New York.
The report, Disrupting Disparities 3.0, found that New York nursing homes with at least
a quarter of Black and Hispanic residents have been twice as likely to have a Covid-19
outbreak than homes with a less-than-5 percent Black and Hispanic population.
“The pandemic and its impact on older New Yorkers has been appalling,” said Beth Finkel,
AARP New York State director. “In every facet of life, 50-plus individuals and communities of
color have bore a huge brunt of Covid.”
The study shows that about 25 percent of Black and Latino families were unable to pay their
rent in May, as opposed to 14 percent of white households. During May and June, half of
Black tenant households in New York had fallen behind on rent.
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