A new study finds that women of color continue to disproportionately struggle from the economic devastation caused by the pandemic. Since March, 53.6% of Black women and 57.1% of Hispanic women have reported higher rates of food scarcity, missed housing payments, or lost wages than their white counterparts.
The study released last week by the National Women’s Law Center found that more than one in six Black and Hispanic women reported not having enough food in the past week — more than double the rate of White or Asian American women. Nearly a quarter of Black women renters surveyed say they are behind in paying their rent, compared to 11% of white women and men.
Between February and April, 12.1 million women lost their jobs, representing 55% of all pandemic-related job losses, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. As of September, the unemployment rate among Black women was 11.1%, compared to 6.9% among White women.
MORE ON THE PANDEMIC
In a Sunday CNN interview, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she’s not giving up on virus relief that includes sending another $1,200 stimulus check to citizens, restarting supplemental unemployment benefits and providing money to state and local governments to help with testing and vaccines.
Pelosi says she’s aiming to negotiate a relief bill that uses science to deal with the coronavirus crisis, and “if we don’t, we’re just giving money to the president to spend any way he wants and that has not been in furtherance of crushing the virus.”
The price tag for the latest bill now stands at $1.9 trillion and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows says he has a commitment from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to bring a bill to the floor if negotiations conclude successfully.
At least five people in Pence’s inner circle, including chief of staff Marc Short, have tested positive for coronavirus. Despite this, Pence, who the White House deems an “essential worker”, will continue to campaign travel as the election nears.
Health experts, who believe the vice president should quarantine for 14 days, call his decision to continue travel “grossly negligent”. Pence, who along with his wife, Karen, tested negative on Sunday.
Over the weekend, the U.S. set a single-day record with over 83,000 new coronavirus infections. The CDC’s ensemble forecast now projects there will be 235,000 to 247,000 coronavirus deaths in the U.S. by Nov. 14.
This comes after an internal memo by Health and Human Services warned that 42 states and territories are in an upward trajectory of new COVID-19 cases, while only nine jurisdictions are improving. Five jurisdictions are at a plateau.
Airline carrier Southwest Airlines announced it will begin selling all seats on their flights after experiencing record financial losses due to the pandemic.
Delta Air Lines is the last big airline carrier to limit capacity on flights. United Airlines and American Airlines began selling all seats earlier this year.
