I've spent the last couple of days learning about what other densely populated South Asian communities are dealing with when it comes to COVID-19 and I'm finding a lot of parallels when it comes to Surrey, Brampton, Fresno.

First off - what we're not talking about is the labour breakdown of these areas. What are the jobs the residents in these cities hold? Many of them are required to go to work - whether it's labour jobs, healthcare jobs. They are coming into contact with people at job sites.

Fresno for example as explained by @nkaurtweets is an area where S. Asian folks rely on jobs in poultry farms/ factories. A large # of cases in that county were directly related to workers not having the option to stay home from work. Labour rights play a huge part in healthcare

We see this in Brampton in well. Many S/Asian folks there work in factory settings, highly dense job sites, industry-site jobs. As Dr. Bonnie Henry mentioned - the same goes for here in the Fraser Health Region. Nature of work is important to highlight here

Another parallel is cultural care, which is so very important and needed in diverse pockets/ regions of ANY large metropolitan area. Cultural care isn't just signs being translated, or materials being distributed to communities to put up in shop windows

It's government bodies actually reaching out/ working with community stakeholders to get the messaging across in culturally-relevant ways to community members. Has there been a lack of that? What I'm hearing from organizers advocates in Brampton, Surrey, Fresno - yes

Institutional gaps caused by the lack of culturally relevant and inclusive care lead to other gaps = the way the public perceives the community. That people aren't doing "enough", that South Asians just don't care, and people questioning why it's so "hard" for pple to understand

In every community, there are folks who simply don't care. That's undeniable. But there is a huge trickle-down effect when it comes to how govts/ health authorities handle public health emergencies - how info/ care/ communication is passed down to all facets of a communinity

Another tidbit: Multigenerational homes. Yes, many South Asian folks live with their families. Family usually being Parents/ Grandparents/ Kids. So, maybe about 7 members in a household (not all...again we're not a monolith we all have different living situations)

Something @JaskaranSandhu_ touched on was how people can isolate when it comes to multigenerational homes. So lets your dad who works in a processing plant has an outbreak at his worksite. He lives with his parents, wife, kids. He gets COVID. He comes home...

So what's the isolation plan? What should he do immediately when he gets home? Brampton has been pushing for isolation centres to ensure safe isolation... and FINALLY, they got one... but it was announced just one week ago. https://toronto.citynews.ca/video/2020/11/10/peel-region-to-open-covid-19-isolation-centre/

Another undeniable similarity between these South Asian dense regions is the fact that grassroots organizations and community members are stepping up and going to great lengths to provide culturally focused care. We're seeing it in gurdwaras, with international students, seniors

There is also a large number of international students from India who reside in Fraser Health as well. This group is often overlooked. There is so much to look into when it comes to students/ how the pandemic impacts them/ how it is communicated to them

Many students live with roommates - who are also students. They go to work and then their main group here in Canada is their friend group. Im not saying gathering in large groups is OK at all. This is definitely not OK and causes the spread of the virus.

But something that sparked my interest is how / where these groups of students get their info. It's not from daily briefings or televised news. It's usually from Whatsapp sharing. Alot of their communication also comes from back home in India from parents/ family

Or they talk to their friends. This one HUGE group of young people who are newer or very new to the country are being glazed over in many when it comes to health messaging. Who is reaching out to them on the regular? Aside from Punjabi-based media, friend here, or fam

So when they call their fam back in India and see there are little to no distancing measures in place, things are kind of going on as usual (yes there are weddings, large gatherings happening back home) there is some major mixed messaging going on for these younger folks.

I want to make clear - I'm not making excuses for people gathering and breaking rules and doing the "wrong thing" but I also want to make clear: public health messaging for racialized/ diverse communities is complex. There are MANY moving parts that if ignored create bigger gaps

I also want to add the fear aspect. From the @nkaurtweets I learned there is a certain fear expressed with some community members about even getting tested for COVID because they are scared about what a positive test means when it comes to their jobs, caring for their families

I’ve learned there are also International students who are fearful of speaking with contact tracers here in FH region because they dont know what implications that convo could have for their work, or even immigration status b/c lack of understanding in some cases

I will keep adding to this thread when I can because as I mentioned - there are just SO many facets to look at here and I am learning a lot from speaking to community organizers, healthcare professions/ those on the ground working in S/Asian communities.

Another thing I want to share from @ananya_tb is abt the S/Asian population's preconditions with diabetes/heart disease in mid-aged/elderly folks. Was this on the radar of health officials at the start of the pandemic that these were onset health issues w/in S/Asian communities?

Also, with Dr. Bonnie Henry encouraging employers in BC to allow their employees to WFH now - that isn't an option for labour/ factory, grocery store, retail work, Uber eats/ Doordash drivers, healthcare workers. We see SO many of these kinds of workers in places like Surrey...