While getting gas in a rest area at New Jersey Turnpike, I asked the worker who was filling up my car tank, aren’t you scared of Coronavirus? "Of course, I am but I can’t stay home so I am here and working," Shahzaib Malik replied sadly. "What if you get the virus, I asked him promptly?" "I don’t know, I don’t have medical insurance, I usually get cold and get the flu when the weather changes, maybe I will die home thinking it is common flu," he answered while scratching his foot on the ground.
As the coronavirus is rapidly expands across America, there is a growing concern that low-income residents, people living below the poverty line and undocumented residents may suffer disproportionately — directly, by getting sick -- and indirectly, through disruptions to their work lives.
In America, there are more than 13 million undocumented residents and, among them, more than 60% are living without any health coverage. Similarly, 23% of legal immigrants do not have any medical coverage, according to a 2019 report from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Today, if you walk into any medical facility without medical insurance, you must pay the minimum cost which is $1300 to get tested for Coronavirus.
Most of the low-wage jobs in retail and service industries do not provide sick paid leave. The rigid workplace environments that prevent immigrants from reporting their illnesses. For those living paycheck to paycheck, it’s difficult to voluntarily take time off when a week’s wages could make a difference in their ability to pay rent.
They often live in cramped housing where people frequently move in and out. They must rely on public transportation, which can hasten exposure or spread infection, health and poverty experts say.
Further, as schools are closed and the source of free and reduced-price breakfast and lunch is cut off, the costs and stress to parents and children increase. If shuttered schools conduct online classes, many low-income students will be left out because they have no computers. One of the parents must take time off from work to be home with the kid which means more financial difficulties.
I visited a homeless shelter in Herndon, Virginia to get first-hand information about prevention exercises and I was shocked that “freehand sanitizer spray puff” was the only prevention method they were using. A staff member told me that they had been talking to those gathered at the service center about how to avoid exposure to coronavirus and had emphasized washing hands. It is the best we can do with limited resources, said the staff.
On February 24, President Trump passed a bill about immigration which makes it harder for immigrants to obtain a green card if they’ve sought government help — which includes any form of government health care. Since then, people had been dropping out of Medicaid as the Covid-19 cases began to surface in early March.
Moreover, as we have seen Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has speedup its operations in recent years which has created an atmosphere of fear, undocumented immigrants are hesitant to go to any health care facilities in fear of being reported, even though community clinics are safe places that do not ask for citizenship status.
New York, Washington, and California have waived this cost using the state’s special funding. For US citizens and permanent residents, any tests performed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are free. Medicaid and Medicare will cover testing costs.
For low-income families, especially the immigrants, prevention and testing of Covid-19 isn’t something they can take for granted. In California, for example, where the government is participating in treatment, it will cost up to $200 for uninsured patients to get tested for the Coronavirus, which means they wouldn’t be able to buy groceries, pay phone bills, etc. for the next two weeks.
Over time, Immigrant communities have set up their own workarounds for such situations.
Muslim Community Center (MCC) clinic in Maryland is providing 100% free medical services without asking the patient’s citizenship status. Similarly, the Jewish community has set up free medical facilities in Brooklyn, New York. But the fact of the matter is, there’s only so much these clinics can do, without support from the federal government.
After President Trump declared a national emergency, I reached out to the Embassy of Pakistan to inquire about actions the embassy has taken to safeguard the lives of Pakistani students, visitors and others living with different resident statuses. I was given few tweets of the Ambassador Asad Majeed Khan which were primarily about embassy visa services during this outbreak, some canceled events/meetings and precautions that could be used including the use of online services. There was nothing mentioned about communication or coordination with the Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent of North America (APPNA) who is very active when it comes to a crisis like this. Maybe the embassy is not required to do so.
“Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) is one of the biggest Muslim charity and disaster response organizations. We have been releasing awareness videos, distributing hand sanitizers and related kits free of costs”, said ICNA’s director information and outreach Moviz Saddique.
As a society, we have accepted that there are so many in our community who are uninsured, underinsured, undocumented and unable to take sick leave. We are also okay with the fact that these families and individuals without access to healthcare are going to get sicker, and may end up spreading the disease because they can't afford to isolate or get proper treatment.
As we witness its sweep across nations, the coronavirus is exposing flaws in our “civilized society’s system”. If the freedom of information is a problem in China, then inequality and the massive disparities in the way people are treated depending on their economic circumstances and their immigration status is the reality of America. The coronavirus, of course, does not discriminate on such grounds. With large sections of society unable to see a doctor or get a test is not just worrying for the health and safety of individuals but for the country a whole.