Tulsa Launches Survey To Understand Impact Of COVID-19 On Minorities

The City of Tulsa is launching a new survey to try to understand how COVID-19 is affecting minorities.

The city said the new community impact survey will help it address inequities caused by the pandemic. Leticia Calvillo with the City of Tulsa said given the data on COVID-19, participation is crucial.

"They offer perspectives that only, for example, an immigrant could provide that someone else might not be able to provide," Calvillo said. 

This past February, the Oklahoma Department of Health reported that whites made up 66 percent of the people who took the first 370,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

In August of 2020, the CDC also reported Blacks and Latinos were four to five times more likely to be hospitalized than non-Hispanic whites.

UMA Tulsa is one of the nonprofits partnering with the City of Tulsa in reaching minority communities. Martha Zapata, founder of UMA Tulsa, also said minorities are fearful of the questions the survey could ask.

"This type of survey can collect data about people that can feel a little bit personal and a little bit intrusive," Zapata said. 

Zapata is an immigrant from Columbia and said reaching the minorities is a lot easier said than done.

"Communities of color are really hard working, very proud people and we don't like to ask for help," Zapata said. "We don't like to ask for handouts."

The survey, available in 16 languages, can be found on the city’s website here. https://www.cityoftulsa.org/resilienttulsa