According MPR News, Hmong populations had almost 50% of Covid-19 related deaths among Minnesotans Asian descent, though only made up 25% of the populations. Most virus spread during the pandemic was reportedly through common “spreader-events” like family get-togethers, cultural celebrations and other gatherings.
Because we’re such a tight-knit community, all our events were like a huge gathering — weddings, funerals, social events, birthdays. Everything large and small, we would gather as a huge community. It was prime for COVID to spread, super spread.
– Dr. David Thao, a plastic surgeon and founder of Hmong Medical Association (source: MPR News)
Despite the early devastation of the Homng community, now the situation is mostly in control and now the Asian descent community has the highest rate of Covid vaccination, write MPR News.
When the deaths were mounting in the Hmong community, Dr. Thao reportedly realized that he needed to reach the tightly knit community and started educational program through YouTube videos , interviews on local Hmong television.
Dr. Thao, 50 told MPR News “Our goal was multifaceted. One was we wanted to provide an education, outreach for the community so that if they had any questions about medicine, we would be able to answer that.
“Our second goal was because there are so few of us, we want to encourage the younger generation and the youth to pursue medicine. There’s a community growing. The more physicians out there, the more we can kind of touch everyone in the community in a positive way.”
Those efforts paid off. More than 88 percent of Minnesotans of Asian ancestry are vaccinated now with at least one dose — 15 percentage points higher than any other racial group.
– MPR News
MPR News adds “When vaccines became available, the association along with the Hmong Nurses Association began hosting vaccination clinics, as well as the Minnesota Department of Health. Hmong leaders posted online about getting vaccinated, the associations held vaccine clinics at community sites like the Hmong Village Shopping Center and Hmongtown Marketplace, which are both in St. Paul.”
According to Dr. Thao, there are 35 to 40 Hmong doctors in Minnesota and he thinks Hmong nurses and doctors are needed to serve their community.
Coronavirus-19 vaccination watch
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) COVID vaccination tracker page (as of May 3) 728,911,015 doses have been distributed and 576,940,211 doses administered. According MDH COVID-19 Response vaccine data a total of 9,827,767doses of Covid-19 (Pfizer & Moderna) vaccines have been administered in Minnesota. According to the MDH latest tally (as of May 3) the confirmed COVID-19 cases in Minnesota are 1,456,778 with 12,512 deaths.