Responding to the Coronavirus Outbreak on California-Mexico Border

On the California-Mexico border, the coronavirus continues to disproportionately impact communities where large numbers of essential workers and high rates of poverty render preventative measures, such as social distancing, nearly impossible.

In San Diego County, the discrepancy between case totals tracks the region's socio-economic divisions. In the county's southernmost zip code, case rates are roughly 3 times higher than San Diego City itself and 5 times higher than several of the county's wealthiest neighborhoods, including La Jolla, Rancho Santa Fe, and Del Mar.

"The virus and the impact of the virus follows exactly what we already knew about the impact of zip code and health disparities on life expectancy and outcome," explains Dr. Jeanette Aldous, the clinical director of infectious disease at San Ysidro Health Center in San Diego, Ca.

On this episode of the podcast, we speak with Aldous and others on the front lines of the outbreak on the southern border about how their patients have been impacted and what they are doing to respond.