CDC team arrives in Northwest Arkansas to help control COVID-19

[Emily]

Corporate headquarters for Tyson, Walmart, JB Hunt...this is one of the fastest growing areas in the US.

https://www.nwahomepage.com/news/cdc-arrives-in-nwa-to-help-control-covid-19/

CDC arrives in NWA to help control COVID-19
News
by: Megan Wilson
Posted: Jun 15, 2020 / 06:27 PM CDT / Updated: Jun 15, 2020 / 06:27 PM CDT

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — The CDC has arrived to help control COVID-19 in Northwest Arkansas.
The team wants to address the recent spike in cases in our area specifically in the Latino and Marshallese communities...

 

[Emily]

Many Marshallese deaths - two only 33 yrs old in the past few days.

https://www.nwahomepage.com/knwa/marshallese-community-members-want-to-meet-with-the-cdc/

Marshallese community members want to meet with the CDC
KNWA
"We want to be part of this conversation," Laelan said. "It would be a failure for them if they don't stop by and say, hi let's talk about this."
by: Lauren Krakau
Posted: Jun 15, 2020 / 10:00 PM CDT / Updated: Jun 15, 2020 / 10:07 PM CDT
"I never thought I would live in an era [where] we’re losing almost a Marshallese person almost every week."
MELISA LAELAN, ARKANSAS COALITION OF MARSHALLESE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

"It’s about time. Why didn’t you come a long time ago?"
MELISA LAELAN, ARKANSAS COALITION OF MARSHALLESE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

https://www.nwahomepage.com/lifesty...look-covid-19-among-marshallese-1-mans-story/

A CLOSER LOOK: COVID-19 among Marshallese; 1 man’s story
Coronavirus
Enough with the masks! We want respect for our poultry workers!
by: Ninette Sosa
Posted: Jun 15, 2020 / 06:23 PM CDT / Updated: Jun 15, 2020 / 06:23 PM CDT

 

[Emily]

https://www.5newsonline.com/article...unty/527-56c36a79-6553-42fa-be3b-6630fd1312ee

31-year-old Springdale woman dies from coronavirus
A 31-year-old Marshalles woman from Springdale has died from the coronavirus in Benton County.

https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2020/jun/14/marshallese-hit-hard-covid-19/

Marshallese hit hard by covid-19 They account for half of disease’s deaths in Northwest Arkansas
by Alex Golden, Doug Thompson | June 14, 2020 at 1:05 a.m.
SPRINGDALE — Marshallese have suffered half the deaths so far in Northwest Arkansas from covid-19 while making up no more than 3% of the region’s population, figures show.

Fourteen of the 28 Northwest Arkansas residents who have died of the virus as of Friday have been Marshallese, according to Washington County Coroner Roger Morris and Benton County Coroner Daniel Oxford. Yet Marshallese account for about 3% of the region’s 520,000 residents, said Melisa Laelan, director of the Arkansas Coalition of Marshallese.

Her estimate of about 15,000 Marshallese living in the two counties is larger than the U.S. Census shows. Laelan has long maintained Arkansas’ Marshallese population was severely undercounted in the 2010 U.S. Census.

“The community is devastated,” said Eldon Alik, consul general for the Springdale consulate of the Republic of the Marshall Islands...

The Marshall Islands were heavily exposed to radioactive fallout from US nuclear weapons testing. Now they are experiencing another disaster here. They should get Medicare coverage.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2015/11/27/a-ground-zero-forgotten/
"A chosen people
On a Sunday after church in 1946, a Navy commodore met with the people of Bikini Atoll and told them they were like the Israelites, a chosen people, and that perfecting the atomic bomb would deliver mankind from future wars. Within one month of that conversation, the Bikinians had boarded U.S. ships for relocation. Within five, the first two tests had been conducted.
“We located the one spot on Earth that hadn’t been touched by the war and blew it to hell,” Bob Hope reportedly once said."
"...Marshallese expats represent up to 38 percent of the workforce at major poultry producers such as Tyson Foods."

 

[Emily]

Follow-up on the 3 week investigation. I haven't had time to listen to the full community response, but it is clear that CDC was able to be more effective than early in the pandemic during the Kirkland, WA nursing home outbreak. They met with community members and had a lot of suggestions.

https://www.kuaf.com/post/health-de...eaders-discuss-next-steps-following-cdc-visit

https://www.kuaf.com/post/marshallese-leaders-respond-cdc-assessment-pandemic-impact-arkansas

https://www.kuaf.com/sites/kuaf/files/202007/cdc_arkansas_report.pdf