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We& #39;ve been looking into Nashville& #39;s response to the coronavirus clusters in immigrant and refugee households. The city didn& #39;t over-publicize this, but there was a point in June when 2/3 of all new cases were among new Americans. [thread] https://wpln.org/post/investigation-nashville-health-officials-have-struggled-to-address-covid-clusters-in-immigrant-communities/">https://wpln.org/post/inve...
We found that Nashville has these 120 contact tracers. But for months, none of them could conduct an investigation in other languages, including Spanish. Yes, they have interpreters they can 3-way in. But it& #39;s not the same as having native speakers. Also, there& #39;s this other prob.
When people get tested for COVID-19, the form has a box for language preference. But by the time the positive result gets transmitted back from the commercial lab, that& #39;s gone. So contact tracers don& #39;t know if who they& #39;re calling speaks English. Then there& #39;s the voicemail issue.
Many people don& #39;t pick up the phone of a random number. And often these contact tracers just leave a message to call them back in English. Obviously, this can get lost in translation. You& #39;d think this would be a fairly simple fix, but it& #39;s unresolved at the moment.
Also, it took until July to launch a Spanish language hotline and get Spanish PSAs on the air about getting tested. And a program to provide hotel vouchers and cash stipends to help people in crowded households quarantine safely was announced at the end of June but has stalled.
That& #39;s not to mention the sharing of patient information with law enforcement for months, which immigrant advocates say had a chilling effect on anyone with uncertain immigration status wanting to get tested.
