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PENDLETON â New data released by the Umatilla County Public Health Department shows what was long understood but had yet to be disclosed â Hispanic residents have been disproportionately infected with COVID-19 in the county.
Residents reporting Hispanic ethnicity accounted for 41% of Umatilla Countyâs total COVID-19 cases in 2020, compared with 34% from non-Hispanic residents and 25% from residents whose ethnicity was unknown, according to a report released by the health department this week.
In addition, the countyâs Hispanic population tested positive at a rate approximately three times higher than non-Hispanic residents in 2020, the data shows.
âWe failed them,â said Jose Garcia, chair of the Hispanic Advisory Committee in Hermiston. âWe failed some communities. Because for every death that happened in Umatilla County, there was a family involved.â
HERMISTON â Early in the pandemic, Jose Garcia said most of the stories told about COVID-19 on Radio La Leyâs âLa Voz Del Puebloâ (The Voice of the People) were of fear and misconception.
Slowly, more residents tuned in each Sunday, sharing stories of COVID-19 on a weekly hourlong section of the radio show called âAcción Rural Hispana,â which Garcia hosts. It became clear to Garcia how the show would be a valuable resource bringing answers to the Spanish and Mam dialect-speaking community â how to stay safe, what common symptoms of COVID-19 are and where to get help.
âWe were trying to figure out how this was going to affect the Latino community,â Garcia, chair of the Hispanic Advisory Committee in Hermiston, said. âBut we didnât know to what extent it would.â