The great unknown!
If you look at the data you will see that women get the COVID-19 virus more than men but men are dying at a higher rate… so what happens if you are trans?
One thing we do know is that your socioeconomic status affects your chances of getting and how the virus will affect you.
Then there is the problem with gendered spaces.
But we are also leaders.
In Pennsylvania a trans women leads the way.
There is an awful lot of disinformation going around about us, some have labeled us as the cause of the virus, others have blamed us for the stay-in-place orders, and other rumors question the meds we are taking saying that they weaken our immune systems.
Stay safe and healthily.
If you look at the data you will see that women get the COVID-19 virus more than men but men are dying at a higher rate… so what happens if you are trans?
Supporting transgender people during the COVID-19 pandemicEven if you don’t have HIV/AIDS the virus is still affecting us in many ways.
UNAIDS
06 APRIL 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted people’s lives around the world, including those of many marginalized people, who suddenly face additional burdens and vulnerabilities.
Many areas in Indonesia, which as of 6 April had 2491 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 209 deaths, have put in place measures, such as physical distancing, to curb the spread of COVID-19. While effective in responding to the disease, many people have been impacted by the effects of physical distancing on the economy.
Out of 1000 people living with HIV and members of key populations surveyed by the Indonesian Positive Network, more than 50% are experiencing severe impacts on their livelihoods, including many transgender women. Sanggar Swara, a civil society organization of young transgender women in Jakarta, conducted a rapid assessment that found that more than 640 transgender people in greater Jakarta have lost their jobs, leaving them unable to support themselves. “On several occasions when the distribution of basic food staples took place, many of them could not access it as they do not have their identity cards on hand or simply due to their gender identity,” said Kanzha Vinaa, the head of Sanggar Swara.
Coronavirus isn’t transphobic. But America’s economic and health systems are.In New York City the Samaritan’s Purse charity’s set up a coronavirus field hospital operation in Central Park, Samaritan’s Purse is affiliated with Franklin Graham, the son of Billy Graham (I wrote about it last week here). Now they are monitoring to see is the keep their promise.
Here’s how the pandemic could further devastate trans people.
Vox
By Katelyn Burns
April 3, 2020
Ade was about to begin onboarding for two separate jobs, one at a bar and the other at a guitar store, in Lansing, Michigan, when the coronavirus pandemic first hit the state. But several days later, Michigan issued a shelter-at-home order and both job offers evaporated overnight.
[…]
Ade, a 25-year-old black transmasculine nonbinary person, had just recently moved in with their partner, who is a faculty member at a local university. The couple can pay their bills for now, thanks to their partner’s job, but she’s a contract worker, so Ade is unsure how they will pay their bills once the semester is over.
[…]
But while there’s no evidence that Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, disproportionately affects trans people, America’s economic and health care systems often marginalize the trans community in several unique ways.
In other words, the coronavirus itself isn’t transphobic, but the US is.
One thing we do know is that your socioeconomic status affects your chances of getting and how the virus will affect you.
Trans people started the pandemic economically behindAnd they are a prime target for the virus with all of them in one apartment.
Aisling, a 28-year-old trans woman from Boston, lost her only source of income when the local university where she was working as a part-time lifeguard shut down because of coronavirus. Aisling would have been in a much better position to weather the financial storm, but she was forced several months ago to quit another part-time job as a swim instructor because of transphobia.
[...]
If Aisling had been able to continue her other job, she may have had more savings in the bank to deal with the pandemic. Now she and her seven roommates, six of whom are also trans, find themselves struggling to make rent.
“A lot of us work in food service,” she said. “One of my housemates is on disaster pay, but most of us just aren’t getting any income at all. There [are] only three people in the house who have full-time income and it’s a house of eight people.”With the lost of jobs is the loss of health insurance.
Then there is the problem with gendered spaces.
Panama’s Gender-Based Quarantine Ensnares Trans Woman
Trans-Sensitive Police Protocol Needed to Prevent Harassment
Human Rights Watch
By Cristian González Cabrera
April 2, 2020
When Panama announced it would implement a gender-based quarantine schedule in response to COVID-19, transgender activists were alarmed. And with reason: on April 1, police detained a transgender woman alleging that she was male and out on “the wrong day.”
The Ministry of Health’s quarantine measures allow women to do essential shopping on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, while men are only permitted on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. No one is allowed out on Sundays. The measures also restrict the time of day people can leave their home depending on the last digit of their national identification card or passport. The ministry describes this as “the simplest procedure” to reduce the number of people on Panama’s streets.
Not so simple for Bárbara Delgado. She left her house on Wednesday morning, a women’s day, outside of the allotted time for her identification number, to attend a medical center near her home, where she volunteers as a health outreach worker. She said the center had not yet issued her a letter of transit and she planned to explain that she was a volunteer and needed to get to work if stopped. Soon after leaving home, two police officers stopped Delgado, along with two men and a woman, all quarantine offenders. The police let the others go with a warning, but detained Delgado, apparently because the “male” gender marker on her ID did not match her appearance. At the police station, she said, a justice of the peace accused her of not being a woman and remarked it was good that she had been taken in. Delgado was made to pay a US$50 fine for violating quarantine measures and was released after three long, humiliating hours.
But we are also leaders.
In Pennsylvania a trans women leads the way.
A Trans Woman Is Leading The Fight Against COVID-19 In PennsylvaniaIt is great to see a shining light in all of this gloom.
Forbes
By Dawn Ennis
March 31, 2020
As the coronavirus pandemic spreads around the world and across the United States, Pennsylvania’s secretary of health is hard at work, hand in hand with Gov. Tom Wolf. They’re trying to manage more than 48-hundred cases and growing of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, which as of press time has claimed more than 60 lives in Pennsylvania.
That top leader at the right hand of the governor is Dr. Rachel Levine, a transgender woman. And according to the Pittsburgh City Paper, she is also a heroine.
“In the midst of chaos, a sound voice has emerged with a confidence and candor that Pennsylvanians can depend on in times of uncertainty: Dr. Rachel Levine,” wrote aspiring journalist Ollie Gratzinger.
There is an awful lot of disinformation going around about us, some have labeled us as the cause of the virus, others have blamed us for the stay-in-place orders, and other rumors question the meds we are taking saying that they weaken our immune systems.
Stay safe and healthily.
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