PANDEMIC
COVID-19 in My Area: Chelsea, MA
By Dan L. Nguyen, Physics Major, 2024
Crowded homes and workplaces While social distancing is crucial to reduce infection rates, it is not possible for many Chelsea residents. People who live in crowded apartments or multigenerational households are put in dire situations if they test positive for COVID-19. The New York Times reported on heartbreaking incidences of people not having a place to quarantine safely: a
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young mother who disclosed her test result to her roommates was asked to leave; a man reported to have slept in his car to prevent infecting people at home; a restaurant manager who tested positive, but there was no room in her cramped living space for her to safely quarantine from family.1 The unsanitary living conditions that Chelsea residents endured stunned a Harvard researcher, who spent a summer following housing inspectors in Chelsea. She told the New York Times,
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I didn’t think conditions like this were happening in the 21st century. It reminded me of stories I heard of the late 1800s, at the beginning of sanitary reform, at the beginning of urbanization.
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s of April 22, 2020, Chelsea, Massachusetts, reported an alarming infection rate of 3,841 per 100,000 cases of COVID-19.1 I live in Chelsea, a densely populated town located a bridge away from Boston. With a population density three times higher than Boston, COVID-19 case counts quickly increased.2 Nearly half of the Chelsea population is foreign-born, most of whom were immigrants or refugees from Central America.3 It is also one of the most impoverished communities in Massachusetts, with a per capita income of $20,617 and 24% of the population living under the federal poverty line.3 In the commentary Disproportionate Impact of Covid-19 on Communities of Color, Dr. Sequist (a primary care doctor at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital who studies healthcare in Chelsea and the Navajo community) detailed the following main factors why the pandemic had been especially disastrous for underserved neighborhoods: crowded living and workplaces, economic distress, underlying health issues, and limited healthcare access.4 These elements are not unique to Chelsea as they describe many working-class cities that became coronavirus epicenters. I hope this article can bring attention to the challenges the people of Chelsea have endured and their resilience in the face of adversity.
Heavy reliance on public transportation and not having the luxury of remote working options meant high exposure to the virus is the reality of many workers. City Manager Tom Ambrosino told WBUR, “They are crowded at home, at work, and on the way to work.”5 American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts reported that 80% of Chelsea’s working population are classified as essential workers.2 This means the average resident who must work throughout the shutdown is at high risk for infection due to crowded work settings where there are minimal protection supplies. As a result, they can put their family members, especially older seniors, at increased risk for infection.
