COVID-19 Updates: June 30, 2020
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Durham COVID-19 cases among Latino construction workers rising |
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Originally posted by ABC News 11, Gloria Rodriguez, June 26, 2020 Alex Manning, who owns A2Z Contractors in Durham, constantly reminds his employees to sanitize their hands, wear their face masks, and wear shoe coverings to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
"If you have to talk with a homeowner, just keep your distance," Manning tells them. "Clean your hands on the way in. Clean your hands on the way out."
None of Manning's employees have gotten the coronavirus, but other construction workers haven't been so lucky.
Durham County has nearly 400 cases among construction workers. According to the health department, 92 percent of those are Latino.
While Hispanics account for only 14 percent of the population in Durham County, they account for almost 63 percent of all COVID-19 cases.
MORE: Durham COVID-19 DataRoberto Carlos Lopez owns Roca's Welding in Durham. He said none of his employees have contracted COVID-19. He said they wear safety glasses, gloves, and a hard hat with facemask and shield at construction sites.
"They check your temperature before you get into the gate, then after you get checked at the gate and everything is normal, for each day they give you a sticker like this and that sticker, you put them on your hard hat," Lopez said. "That means when the safety man sees you walking around the job site, he knows you are already checked."
He said safety meetings are different.
"It used to be a crowd but now each crew has his own foreman and we minimize the amount of people at those safety meetings and also they talk every day about this COVID-19, how to prevent," Lopez said.
Statewide, Hispanics now account for nearly half of all COVID-19 cases, while only making up about 10 percent of the population.
MORE: State COVID-19 Data
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El Centro Hispano in Durham, which provides resources for the Latino community in the Triangle, launched a Spanish ad campaign this week. It is designed to remind people about the importance of wearing masks, socially distancing and washing your hands.
El Centro Hispano Unida Contra el Virus Campaign
"We've been trying to develop materials that are culturally appropriate for the community," said El Centro Hispano President & CEO Pilar Rocha-Goldberg.
She said those working in construction face special challenges.
"It's all these issues, about getting to work and working with the masks, and how far they need to be apart," Rocha-Goldberg said. Manning admits it's not comfortable working with masks.
"With this heat, moisture, dust, it's harder," Manning said. "But we have to do it. It's a must."
Rocha-Goldberg said some construction workers fear losing pay if they call in sick. She said more employers should give their employees sick pay time if they need it.
Lopez said he stresses the importance of health to his employees.
"I (tell) my guys every Monday, 6 in the morning, (if) you feel sick please let me know," Lopez said, adding that he tells them not to worry about taking a day off and losing a day's pay. "We try to take care of people. I told my guys, 'We are going to make sure you get paid at least your 40 hours.' That's really important."
The Hispanic Contractors Association of the Carolinas is helping contractors with resources to educate employees about COVID-19.
MORE: Resources for ContractorsFor more information on COVID-19 resources in Orange County, please visit our Spanish webpage. |
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What Do You Do When Someone Makes a Racist Remark? |
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Originally posted by The New York Times, Rachel L. Swarns
Janis Middleton thought she had insulated herself from hate in her adoptive city of Atlanta. She surrounded herself with urbane, college-educated friends and colleagues who embraced progressive politics.
Her friends became the cornerstones in an invisible wall that she built to protect herself. She wasn’t naïve. An advertising manager, she is an African-American who had grown up in the South. But she thought she had done all she could to keep racism at bay.
Which is why she didn’t see it coming.
She was visiting a white friend last year on the Fourth of July when it happened. After the hot dogs and burgers, chips and conversation, her friend’s mother used the N-word during a discussion about race in the living room. Ms. Middleton froze.
Her good friend looked away, and said nothing.
Ms. Middleton, 38, still replays that moment over and over and over again. What could she have said? What should she have said? Why did her white friend stay silent? |
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“You tell yourself, ‘I’m going to be prepared for it, the next time,’” Ms. Middleton said. “But you never are.”
As a black woman, I know what she means. Maybe you do, too. You think you’ve steeled yourself, braced yourself, prepared yourself. You think you’ve picked a city that is safe and nurtured a social circle where you won’t have to worry. Then you’re confronted with a racist remark. At your son’s soccer practice. At the local coffee shop. At your friend’s wedding, or your office. |
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Each situation presents an opportunity to speak out against racism, but not all of us do.
Why not?
Recently, we asked readers to share their reactions in those moments. We wondered: Did you say something? Were you stunned into silence? Dozens of people from a variety of ethnic backgrounds responded, describing fraught encounters with strangers, friends, co-workers and relatives.
Steve Douglas, a white lawyer who lives in St. Petersburg, Fla., said he didn’t hesitate when a neighbor used the N-word to refer to African-Americans.
“That word isn’t used in this house,’’ Mr. Douglas said he told him. “If you’re going to be in here, you’re not going to use that word or anything close to it.” |
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Another reader, who did not identify his race in his response, wrote that he intervened last year when a Hispanic man in his mid-30s started mocking an Asian passenger on the New York City subway: “I said, ‘Why don’t you leave him alone?’”
Both interventions had some impact. Mr. Douglas said his neighbor stopped using racial slurs in his presence. The man on the subway initially directed his ire toward other passengers, but ultimately left the train.
Others discovered, though, that speaking up stirred tensions and strained relationships. Kim Harris, a black advertising strategist, spoke up when a white co-worker told her and several other colleagues that Michelle Obama, the former first lady, “looked like an ape.”
“What are you talking about?” asked Ms. Harris, 48, who was working in Los Angeles at the time. “That’s racist.”
Her colleague got defensive, she said, challenging her tone and her interpretation of his remark. None of her other co-workers said a word. |
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Will Walker, a white college student in Santa Barbara, Calif., hoped to have a positive influence at work when he confronted a white co-worker who was using racist language to refer to Asian, black and Jewish people. The encounter occurred this summer on a golf course near Dallas where Mr. Walker had a summer job.
But his colleague expressed no remorse. Instead, Mr. Walker said, “he seemed to go out of his way to make racist comments in front of me.’’ |
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As for Ms. Middleton, she never expected the conversation with her friend’s mother to take such a turn on that Fourth of July. The older woman started out by asking about black people who use the N-word. Then she blurted out the racial slur in its entirety, abandoning the euphemism. Ms. Middleton was staggered, but the conversation in the room continued without any acknowledgment of the racial epithet.
Ms. Middleton and her friend never discussed what happened that day. But the episode shattered their friendship. They haven’t spoken for nearly a year.
“Being around her didn’t feel right,” Ms. Middleton said. “We never discussed it, but I think we both know why we haven’t talked to each other. It was a silent exit for both of us.” |
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FDA cautions pet owners
about infecting their pets in new video |
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The video pushes the "aww" button with images of adorable furry kittens, ferrets, puppies and loving owners.
"Though it doesn't seem like animals can give you the virus, it appears you can give it to them. So if you're sick, avoid direct contact with your pets. If possible, have someone else care for them until you're well again," the FDA says in the video. "Consider avoiding dog parks and other crowded public places," it advises. And the six-foot rule applies to leashed pets, as well as to other people. House cats, as well as big cats in zoos, have been found to be infected with coronavirus, as well as farmed minks in the Netherlands.
"A small number of pet cats and dogs have been reported to be infected with the virus in several countries, including the United States. Most of these pets became sick after contact with people with COVID-19," the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says on its website.
According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, dogs and other animals can be infected with coronaviruses, including the one that causes Covid-19. Most are related to the coronaviruses that cause the common cold in people. "Based on the limited information available to date, the risk of animals spreading COVID-19 to people is considered to be low," the AVMA says on its website.
"Accordingly, there is no reason to remove pets from homes where COVID-19 has been identified in members of the household, unless there is risk that the pet itself is not able to be cared for appropriately. In this pandemic emergency, pets and people each need the support of the other and veterinarians are there to support the good health of both."
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North Carolina COVID-19 Cases
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) reports 64,670 COVID-19 cases, 1,343 deaths, and 908 hospitalizations, as of June 30, 2020. For more information regarding live updates (NCDHHS updates the site every day at noon), please visit the NCDHHS website.
Orange County Health Department also has a COVID-19 dashboard webpage, with information on COVID-19 data in the county. The dashboard will be updated every Tuesday and Thursday.
There are currently 669 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Orange County, and 41 deaths.
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COVID-19 Community Resources
For more information on COVID-19 community resources in the county, please visit our webpage. Resources on specific topic areas, such as food access, education, housing, and others, are all accessible on our website, or at the links below.
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