INDIANAPOLIS — The Marion County Health Department has identified so-called "hot spots" as areas most affected by COVID-19.
According to the health department "hot spot" map, the Hispanic community is experiencing more than its share of COVID-19 cases.
Often working in essential services means Latinos are out in the community more and are at a higher risk of contracting the virus. Plus, they lack access to health care and have more people living in households together.
"They can't afford to stay home and quarantine like others. They have to go to work, they have to support their families," said Marlene Dotson, CEO of the Indiana Latino Institute.
According to the Marion County "hot spot" map - the highest number of cases are downtown and on the west side of the city.
The latest location for the health department to add a testing site is near West 38th and Lafayette Road.
A good thing, said Dotson, because the Hispanic community simply not getting tested enough. "Do they have and can they take paid off time from work to be tested? Do they have someone who can watch their kids while they're getting tested? Will there be someone at the site who can speak Spanish and be able to translate for them?"
A lack of education, Dotson said, means many Latinos don't realize how dangerous COVID-19 is. They're probably not even aware of the numbers. So once they get this idea or they're aware, they're probably going to see that we need to pay more attention to it," she said.
You can find a map showing the number of cases in each county on the state's website: https://www.coronavirus.in.gov/ [coronavirus.in.gov].
