# The Impact of COVID-19 among Recent Latinx Immigrants: Examining Opportunities for Intervention

> **NIH NIH R01** · PACIFIC INSTITUTE FOR RES AND EVALUATION · 2020 · $144,794

## Abstract

Abstract
 Emerging evidence reveals the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on the US Latinx immigrant
community. Concern for the consequences of COVID-19 is especially high among the Latinx population in
Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida. As of April 24, 35% of all reported COVID-19 cases
in the state of Florida (10,926), 27% of deaths (287), and 30% of persons hospitalized (12,465) were residents
of Miami-Dade County. Given that Miami-Dade is at epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in the state of
Florida and the majority of its 2.8 million residents are Latinx immigrants, there is an urgent need to explore the
impact of COVID-19 in this population. Latinx immigrants face increased challenges related to employment,
financial strain, access to care, limited social support systems, language barriers, and fears related to
immigration status that create barriers to adherence of COVID-19 containment and mitigation efforts, and could
exacerbate downstream health effects such as mental health and substance use problems. The relative effect
on recent Latinx immigrants, many of whom have experienced forced migration and are struggling to adapt to a
new host country, may be particularly devastating.
 The proposed study addresses this urgent need by leveraging an ongoing NIAAA-sponsored longitudinal
study set (currently in the second wave of data collection). Specifically, the study will administer a
supplemental COVID-19 protocol to our already engaged sample of recent Latinx immigrants. This data will be
merged with pre- and post-pandemic data currently being collected via the parent study. The overarching aim
of the proposed study is to (1) examine adherence and attitudes to COVID-19 containment and mitigation
efforts and (2) how sociocultural factors coupled with COVID-19 related stress impacts changes in alcohol and
other drug use and adverse mental health outcomes in this population. This research would immediately
leverage the parent study cohort, infrastructure, and existing protocol to rapidly assess the impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic in this vulnerable Latinx subgroup. This knowledge will be critical to informing early
response procedures with the power to mitigate deleterious COVID-19 adherence and mitigation efforts,
pandemic stressors, and subsequent downstream health consequences such as alcohol and other drug use
and adverse mental health outcomes in this population. Additionally, knowledge gained from the proposed
study can be utilized to examine the impacts of COVID-19 on the original study outcomes (i.e., impaired
driving, transportation). Findings from this investigation can prove to be invaluable in understanding the
behavioral changes triggered by COVID-19 among recent Latinx immigrants, and informing effective policies
and culturally relevant outreach strategies that can be applied in the face of future pandemic recurrences.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10164476
- **Project number:** 3R01AA025720-03S1
- **Recipient organization:** PACIFIC INSTITUTE FOR RES AND EVALUATION
- **Principal Investigator:** EDUARDO O ROMANO
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $144,794
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2018-03-01 → 2023-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10164476

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10164476, The Impact of COVID-19 among Recent Latinx Immigrants: Examining Opportunities for Intervention (3R01AA025720-03S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10164476. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*