Can the Trump administration blame Latinos for new coronavirus spikes? Behind the scenes, health leaders are probing an anti-immigration narrative, USA TODAY learned.
Top federal officials are privately exploring whether Latinos are to blame for regional spikes in new coronavirus cases, asking in internal communications if Mexicans could be carrying the disease across the border, fueling domestic outbreaks.
Over the weekend, Homeland Security and federal health officials pointed to possible explanations for spikes in Texas, Arizona and North Carolina other than immigration. Their email responses connected the rise in new COVID-19 cases to America’s rapid and loosely planned reopening, which the White House has defended despite criticism from public health experts.
"It could be reopening, it could be job-related, it could be importation across the border," Adams told USA TODAY in an interview, noting that the administration is analyzing more data from communities to make policy decisions."I do think it is a reasonable question, among many to ask, if there is an element of importation."
“We get groups of more than 10 together, we open up businesses, we don’t wear masks and end up where we are,” said Pima County Public Health Director Dr. Theresa Cullen. “We don’t have to speculate that this is a rise in people coming across the border.” Pence urged the nation’s governors to play down spikes in their case reports in a telephone call Monday. According to audio obtained by The New York Times, he told the state leaders to attribute the newly identified cases to increases in testing capacity and to stress that “we are safely reopening the country.”
Amy Adams Ellis, spokeswoman for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, said the agency has launched a multifront response to “trends starting to go in the wrong direction.” Coronavirus cases have soared at meatpacking plants since Trump declared the industry an essential operation over concerns about shortages of pork, chicken and beef. Some of the nation’s highest spikes have occurred in counties with meat-processing facilities.
CDC data released Monday suggests Latinos may be more much likely to be infected with coronavirus than the general population, along with Blacks and American Indians/Alaskan Natives. Health officials noted in the emails that many of those travelers are not screened for symptoms and could carry infections in either direction.
Ferrara provided data showing that since Trump’s moratorium on border travel in March, total traffic at ports of entry has decreased by 43%. Likewise, pedestrian and vehicle traffic has changed little on both the southern and northern borders over the past month, according to the data. “Increased community spread due to reopening and a relaxing of social distancing, particularly over Memorial Day weekend,” officials wrote.
The state has been even harder hit in its northeast corner, in Apache and Navajo counties. Both have small Hispanic populations but are home to significant Native American tribal communities.
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