Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Public Health and Surveillance
Date Submitted: Aug 30, 2020
Date Accepted: May 14, 2021
Date Submitted to PubMed: May 21, 2021
Simultaneously Blamed and Ignored: Cross-Sectional Rapid Assessment on Barriers, Behaviors, and Impact of COVID-19 on Asian Americans
ABSTRACT
Background:
The diverse Asian American population is impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but due to limited data and other factors, disparities for this population are hidden.
Objective:
Our objective was to describe the Asian American community’s experiences and impacts during this pandemic, focusing on the Greater San Francisco Bay Area, California, to better inform our health care services.
Methods:
We conducted a cross-sectional survey in May-June 2020 with 1,297 Asian American participants, with questions on COVID-19-related testing and preventative behaviors, economic impacts of COVID-19, experience with anti-Asian violence, and mental health challenges.
Results:
We found that only 3% (n=39) were tested, and 49% stated that they could not find a place to get tested. Three-quarters of participants reported feeling stressed, and about one-quarter reported feeling depressed. 6% of participants reported being treated unfairly because of their race/ethnicity. 36.3% of participants had lost their regular jobs and 25.4% had reduced hours or reduced income.
Conclusions:
Our findings highlight the longstanding need for culturally and linguistically-appropriate mental health services and resources. These findings led to the establishment of the first Asian multi-lingual and multi-cultural COVID-19 testing site in the county.
Citation
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Copyright
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