Mom and daughter fight Covid in SF
February 1, 2021 1:37 PM Subscribe
It’s Saturday, or Day 7 of the 16-hour-workday streak for Susana and Susy Rojas, the mother and daughter duo who run the Community Wellness Team for the UCSF/Latino Task Force test and research campaigns. The mother, 48, and daughter, 27, huddle over a desk strewn with papers and a laptop. Susy runs her eyes over the latest list of San Franciscans who tested positive for Covid-19 and need help. Mission Local profiles Susana and Susy Rojas, key players in the Covid-19 response in San Francisco's Mission District and the latest in a line of matriarchal activists.
...Like the hundreds the team has attended to since the first testing and research campaign in April, most are low-income Latinx residents and many are the men and women who deliver groceries, work construction or care for the elderly. They cannot shelter in place....
Susy joined the Latino Task Force in April just as it began the first of many Covid-19 testing and research campaigns with UCSF in the Mission District. The results would show how Latinx residents, the hardest hit demographic in San Francisco, could not afford to stay home and often lived in crowded housing; with a high incidence of asymptomatic virus, they were unwittingly passing the virus onto family members.
From the start the researchers and community agreed testing was pointless without a response that helped Covid-positive residents isolate. That need birthed Community Wellness Teams, a “community caring for community” model for aftercare follow-up and resource delivery that Valerie Tulier-Laiwa, who is on the executive committee of the Latino Task Force, would like to see duplicated around the city.
...Like the hundreds the team has attended to since the first testing and research campaign in April, most are low-income Latinx residents and many are the men and women who deliver groceries, work construction or care for the elderly. They cannot shelter in place....
Susy joined the Latino Task Force in April just as it began the first of many Covid-19 testing and research campaigns with UCSF in the Mission District. The results would show how Latinx residents, the hardest hit demographic in San Francisco, could not afford to stay home and often lived in crowded housing; with a high incidence of asymptomatic virus, they were unwittingly passing the virus onto family members.
From the start the researchers and community agreed testing was pointless without a response that helped Covid-positive residents isolate. That need birthed Community Wellness Teams, a “community caring for community” model for aftercare follow-up and resource delivery that Valerie Tulier-Laiwa, who is on the executive committee of the Latino Task Force, would like to see duplicated around the city.
There are unsung heroes, and then there are and idiots* out in front of Dodger Stadium.
*Maybe there really is a conspiracy of aliens among us.
posted by BlueHorse at 6:02 PM on February 1, 2021
*Maybe there really is a conspiracy of aliens among us.
posted by BlueHorse at 6:02 PM on February 1, 2021
Good point, BlueHorse. I couldn’t believe that anti-vaxxers were able to shut down America’s largest vaccination site. I get that those folks don’t want to be vaccinated but what the hell makes them think they get to decide for the rest of us? Haven’t they hurt enough people already?
posted by Bella Donna at 1:00 AM on February 2, 2021
posted by Bella Donna at 1:00 AM on February 2, 2021
her diabetic mom inevitably joined the front lines of the Latino Task Force’s response
Jesus. Dedication to be on the front line when you've got one of the risk factors.
posted by MattWPBS at 5:38 AM on February 2, 2021 [1 favorite]
Jesus. Dedication to be on the front line when you've got one of the risk factors.
posted by MattWPBS at 5:38 AM on February 2, 2021 [1 favorite]
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posted by Bella Donna at 2:40 PM on February 1, 2021 [4 favorites]