Pacific Islanders have more than triple the rate of coronavirus cases in their communities than any other race in Oregon.

I was shocked when I learned this, and disappointed when I couldn't find a single piece of news focusing on this community. https://trib.al/bARGS8K 

Like other minorities, PIs are at more risk of contracting COVID-19 because they're more likely to be essential workers. Also, a lot of PIs live in multi-family, multi-generational homes, which make social distancing more difficult.

There are also major health disparities among PIs that make them more susceptible to becoming seriously ill from COVID-19, like obesity, hypertension, and diabetes. OHA reported that at 16.5%, PIs are the race with the highest percent of coronavirus patients hospitalized.

I spoke with @aileenphd and she said Mult. County has had issues when trying to translate information into Pacific Islander languages. It’s fairly easy to get a document translated into Spanish, she said. But Chuukese? Not so easy.

And finally, the structures just aren't in place to help Pacific Islanders address health issues. Hopefully, the structure being created to help the Pacific Islander community now will be used to address other public health disparities in the community.

I'm half Filipino myself and my mom comes from Guam, so writing about the Pacific Islander community hits close to home. I hope more Portland journalists will pay attention to this community and the public health issues they're facing.