Filipino Healthcare and Frontline Workers and COVID-19: The Cost of Labor and Consequence of Heroism

Background and Purpose:

News media headlines related to COVID-19 have been frequent and dynamic since the coronavirus’s emergence. Headlines appeared noting that Filipino nurses and other frontline workers were being exposed to the coronavirus, and that these frontline workers were contracting COVID-19 and dying at higher rates than workers from other racial/ethnic groups. This study uses a news media content analysis to understand why Filipino and Filipino American healthcare and other frontline workers have had such disproportionately high rates of COVID-19 infection and death and how media coverage of these events has been shaped by, and shaping, discourse around Filipino and Filipino American communities.

Methods:

A qualitative content analysis was conducted on news articles from 2020 focusing on COVID-19 and Filipino healthcare and other frontline workers. Data derive from four searches: 1) a ProQuest database search, 2) a search targeting major U.S. news sources not identified through ProQuest, 3) a search targeting Hawaii-based news sources, and 4) additional articles not identified through previous searches but circulated through social media. A total of 145 articles were identified, of which 46 unique articles were analyzed based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Articles were coded based on predetermined themes.

Results:

Four major findings were identified. First, Filipino participation in the healthcare workforce was seen by some as related to inherent cultural traits, which ignored the Philippine postcolonial legacy given the U.S. development of the Philippine nursing education and training system. Second, Filipino overseas health workers held jobs with increased risks, exacerbated by co-occurring health conditions and multigenerational and extended family living arrangements making them more vulnerable to COVID-19 morbidity and mortality. Third, Filipino frontline workers in large institutions (including hospitals) and represented by unions brokered job protections while those working in small and informal settings (including home care) relied on community and mutual aid interventions. Fourth, Filipino workers maintain high-risk jobs given economic obligation to send remittances to the Philippines, earning them the sometimes undesired badge of heroism.

Conclusions and Implications:

Although the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold and the experiences of Filipino and Filipino American communities evolve, these findings help us to consider how to protect the health and safety of frontline workers, particularly given the urgency to work for these laborers to support their families and communities, both locally and in the Philippines. Healthcare and other frontline professions, including social work, have a responsibility to protect their workers and consider how to promote community mutual aid. And, although the label of healthcare “hero” during a pandemic is considered desirable and deserved for Filipino health workers, it draws attention away from the more practical need to develop policies and labor practices that protect these communities and prevent their disproportionate morbidity and mortality.