El Centro Launches COVID Campaign

CORONAVIRUS

From Staff Reports

El Centro Hispano, along with statewide Hispanic media, is launching a NC Unida Contra El Virus campaign, designed to send unified messages to the at-risk Latino community to raise awareness about COVID-19 and reduce contagion.

“We want to improve language access to key information about prevention and awareness in our community,” said Pilar Rocha-Goldberg, El Centro Hispano CEO and president. “This collaborative effort is critical when the Latino/Hispanic community is being disproportionately struck by COVID-19 infections in North Carolina.” 

According to state health officials, as of mid-June, the Latino community made up more than 14,000 positive cases of the infection, which is around 44 percent of the nearly 30,000 cases in North Carolina for which ethnicity is known. Latinos, however, are only 9.3 percent of the state’s population.

“We are aware that efforts to reduce COVID-19 diagnoses among Latinx residents had to involve more than information, however, the breadth of this campaign emphasizes our belief that a unified, targeted campaign effort will empower our community to fight against mis/disinformation related to COVID-19,” said Rocha-Goldberg. “Well informed citizens make better decisions.”

The 10-week campaign will focus on several digital media initiatives to amplify messages in Spanish about COVID-19 through social media, radio and print media. The campaign will encourage activities such as hand-washing and social distancing, particularly among workers.

In addition to El Centro Hispano, which is based in Carrboro and Durham, participating organizations of the NC Unida Contra El Virus campaign include, among others, Carrboro Elementary School, Orange County Department of Human Rights & Relations, Orange County Health Department, The Point Church en Espanol – Chapel Hill, UNC-Chapel Hill, the Town of Hillsborough and the Town of Carrboro.