Recently I went to a local Mexican restaurant and grocery store. Before COVID I used to frequent this store and restaurant quite a bit. It is authentic, has delicious meals and excellent vegetables along with items I cannot find in the mainstream grocery stores.  The place is always busy, most of the conversations are in Spanish (the language I wish I had taken in middle and high school instead of French, which currently serves no purpose). We were looking for some avocados, and this place always has ripe ones.  The grocery store space is not large, there are about seven 20 foot long aisles, that are narrow, so you have to turn sideways to pass and the shelves go to the ceiling.

When we entered on a Saturday, the place was packed; there were easily 40 – 50 people shopping in this small space with many lined up to check out, which required forming lines in the the narrow front and up the aisles.  I was surprised that perhaps 90% of those in the store were not wearing masks. The essential workers behind the butcher counter were mask less as were some of the cashiers. There was no way to get around this store without literally coming face to face with somebody not wearing a mask .

Quickly finding the avocados, and while I was wearing 2 masks, I handed them to the person with me who was wearing an N95, had already been vaccinated and had been telling me to head out.   I was noticeably nervous and looked for aisles with fewer people to leave the store. Once outside I waited in the parking lot for my friend. They are also in healthcare and when they came out, they said, only half kidding, “you should go into quarantine for 10 days”.

Unfortunately this place is laid out for a super spreader event and made clear to me that we are not providing appropriate education for some groups. The essential workers in this store are at risk, as are the shoppers.  I am not sure what we are doing to provide information to those for whom English is not their primary language, but we need to review it for effectiveness, and after we find what works, perhaps be doing even more.

As an update to this article here is a recently released CDC Report highlighting the increased risks by ethnicity.

Risk for COVID-19 Infection, Hospitalization, and Death By Race/Ethnicity

Note these statistics from on of the charts.