COVID-19 and Southeast Asian Americans

Unlike other ethnic minority groups, data on the impacts of COVID-19 on Southeast Asian Americans (SEAAs) are limited, oftentimes aggregated with other Asian American groups, thus limiting targeted assistance efforts. Without adequate data to inform best practices around testing and vaccination, many SEAAs become invisible Americans who have difficulties navigating a health care system that inadvertently excludes them. SEAAs have large disparities gap due to a combination of historical trauma, discrimination, harsh immigrant policies, and language barriers. Many are undocumented, hold low wage jobs, and less likely to attend college. Social isolation, anxiety, and financial hardships resulting from COVID-19 have intensified existing health and mental health issues. Lack of disaggregated data and under-reporting of race/ethnicity data, potentially masks the true impacts of COVID-19 on SEAAs and thus exemplifies systemic barriers and structural racism that keep them invisible and hinder targeted assistance. The goal of the SEA US, HEAR US project is to understand and address multi-level social, ethical, and behavioral implications of COVID-19 testing, vaccination, and its sequelae among Cambodians, Filipinos, Thais, and Vietnamese Americans in Greater Los Angeles through a community-based approach. Our central hypothesis is that provision of data-informed and community-informed best practices/guidelines will improve evidence-based COVID-19 testing, vaccination, and its sequelae among their communities. We aim to: 1. Conduct multi-level formative research using a mixed methods approach to validate, refine, and tailor existing SEBI measures and potentially develop new, more culturally-relevant, measures for SEAAs. 2. Collect individual-level data about social, ethical, and behavioral implications (SEBI) of COVID-19 testing, vaccination, and its sequelae among SEAAs (N=1000) in the Greater Los Angeles area through a prospective longitudinal study. 3. Conduct interviews with community leaders and stakeholders (N=60) within the SEAA communities to understand their perceptions, attitudes, beliefs, and intentions towards COVID-19 testing and vaccination. We intend to gather information which can be used to identify critical points of intervention, gaps in existing health service delivery or policies, and provide voice to a community that has long been silent.