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Immigrant communities like Chelsea are emerging as hot spots for rapid spread of the COVID-19 virus, revealing gross inequities in our safety net systems. The pandemic is hitting Latino, immigrant, and non-English speaking communities like ours hard. We must do better to ensure that immigrants are not left behind.
As of today, there are 356 confirmed cases in Chelsea. Eight of our neighbors have died from the virus. With a rate of more than 88 cases per 10,000 residents, Chelsea now has the highest infection rate in the state. We know these numbers will continue to climb and that many more cases are going unreported.
From today’s Boston Globe:
“To some degree, Latino immigrants have always been an invisible population. But the virus is indifferent to workers in the underground economy. More than the coronavirus performing as the ‘great equalizer,’ it should be hailed as the ‘great revealer.’ Immigrants can’t remain an invisible problem when a public health crisis is overwhelming the state. And it’s only going to get worse for this population unless we start paying attention.”
Please let immigrant families know you’re paying attention by making an emergency gift today to support the Chelsea Collaborative’s COVID-19 response efforts.
We are distributing food, diapers and formula to hundreds of families each day; assisting with unemployment applications; helping families stay in their homes; connecting residents to medical care; raising awareness of how to stay healthy and safe; and providing daily bilingual workshops to our community on social media.
Your gift will help us continue to serve as a lifeline to our immigrant community that has been invisible for too long. COVID-19 is not affecting all communities the same. Ours is being devastated and we must come together to ensure immigrants are not left behind to fight this virus alone.
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