Washington is among only a handful of states that have both recognized COVID-19’s threat to multigenerational households and prioritized the distribution of vaccines accordingly. A Center for Public Integrity analysis of every county in the U.S. shows that people of color, at greater risk from the virus for a variety of factors, are far more likely to be living in the same home as older relatives.
On Jan. 6, Washington became the first state to put multigenerational households near the top of its COVID-19 vaccine priority list.
Like other states, Washington followed federal guidance by first prioritizing “high risk” health care workers, first responders and nursing home residents — the last group accounting for about a third of COVID-19 deaths nationwide. But Washington broke new ground when it next prioritized people 65 or older and people 50 and older in multigenerational homes in which they care for grandchildren or parents, or receive care at home.
The rollout hasn’t always been smooth, according to some activists representing communities of color who pushed for it. But, as vaccine supplies grow, prominent virus experts are urging other jurisdictions to also target multigenerational homes as an effective way to reach communities of color.
The Center for Public Integrity’s analysis found that 18% of U.S. households are multigenerational. We define these households as consisting of at least two generations, including parents and adult children, as well as families that extend from grandparents to grandchildren. The percentage among people of color is much higher: 30% among Latinos, 25% among Asians and 24% among Black families, compared with 15% for non-Latino white households.
The analysis found that two states with high-priced housing, California and Hawaii, have the highest proportions of multigenerational households, at 24% and 23%, respectively. In numerous counties throughout the country, the percentages are even higher.
These households include millions of Americans and immigrants who live with extended family to suit elders’ needs, for cultural reasons or because it’s more affordable. Not coincidentally, health experts say, ethnicities with elevated rates of multigenerational homes are suffering infections and death rates greater than their white counterparts of all ages.
“Inside-the-home transmission is what has been killing so many older people of color,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, a leading global public health expert and dean of the Brown University School of Public Health.
Jha agrees with other specialists that vaccinating essential workers, from teachers to farmworkers, is crucial to stop the spread of the virus.
But early vaccination of essential workers alone probably is not enough, Jha said. “We really do need to find ways to prevent the intergenerational spread of the infection in these households.”
These households often consist of people of color, who have less access to health insurance and higher rates of health problems that make COVID-19 more deadly.
Focusing vaccine access on the most vulnerable demographics, regardless of age, would require prioritizing minority populations because they have more underlying health conditions, said Dr. James Hildreth, president of Meharry Medical College, a historically Black medical school in Nashville, Tennessee.
“What's keeping that from happening is that it appears to be prioritizing based on race, and in today's United States,” Hildreth said, “that's just not gonna fly.”
President Joe Biden wants all adults to be eligible for vaccines no later than May 1, but it’s been left to individual states to determine who should be prioritized in the meantime.
Trang Tu, who lives with and cares for her 90-year-old mother Nguyet Dang, right, in their South Seattle home on March 30, 2021. (Scott Eklund via Red Box Pictures for InvestigateWest)
‘It felt like we were invisible’
As anticipation of a vaccine grew last year, leaders in Washington state’s immigrant communities and communities of color asked the state to designate multigenerational families as an early high priority.
About 22% of Asian households in the state are multigenerational. But “it felt like we were invisible,” said Seattle resident Trang Tu, who lives with and cares for her 90-year-old mother.
Last summer, a federal advisory group tasked with developing plans for fairly distributing the vaccine began wrestling with the concerns of multigenerational families. The advisers suggested giving local officials the latitude to vaccinate entire households regardless of age if experts thought that approach would be more efficient and equitable at protecting vulnerable communities.
Tu, 48, joined a Dec. 20 Zoom meeting for the public with representatives of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Knowing that vaccine would be in short supply initially, CDC advisers had already recommended on Dec. 1 that vaccines first go to health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities where outbreaks had been so deadly.
The CDC also issued a statement at the time suggesting that, as vaccine supply increased, it was open to future recommendations prioritizing multigenerational households.
On Dec. 20, updated guidance from CDC advisers recommended that individuals ages 75 and up and “frontline essential workers” next receive vaccines, followed by those 65 and older, other essential workers and people 16 to 64 with high-risk medical conditions. The CDC didn’t explicitly prioritize multigenerational households for vaccines but recognized that a greater percentage of elders of color live in them.
States largely adopted CDC vaccine priority guidelines. But, with states being allowed the flexibility to design their own plans, Tu focused on influencing her home state, Washington.
COVID-19 fatality rates in Washington have been disproportionately higher among households of color. Since the pandemic began, the death rate per 100,000 residents for Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders has been six times higher than for white residents. Latino, Native American and Alaskan death rates have been three times higher. And it’s been nearly twice as high for Black residents.
Multigenerational households often include essential workers, such as Sang Nguyen, who are at greater risk of bringing the virus home. Then there are those caring for frail elders, such as Trang Tu, who don’t have priority eligibility for vaccines because they aren’t employed at a health care facility.
Katie Meehan, the Washington Department of Health’s equity and social justice manager, said prioritizing multigenerational families was “one of the strongest themes” that emerged in talks with community representatives last fall.
At least three other states have adopted versions of Washington’s policy.
Alaska began vaccinating people 45 and older in multigenerational households in February. The Alaska Tribal Health System was already doing this. Crucially, older adults may be more inclined to get vaccinated when they can do so with a family member, said Clinton Bennett, a spokesperson for the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services.
In early March, Minnesota began expanding eligibility to people 50 and up in homes with at least three generations, such as a grandparent, parent and grandchild.
Oregon plans to also target multigenerational households for vaccines. Officials in Multnomah County, home to Portland, plan to consult with community organizations on which types of households should qualify. “You can see how many people might define that differently,” said Jessica Guernsey, the county’s public health director.
Most states are now vaccinating those 65 and older. That group accounts for eight out of 10 COVID-19 deaths. But the age limit cuts out younger people of color, many likely to live in multigenerational households, who face disproportionate risks compared with white peers.
That’s why Jha, the Brown University expert, recommended in February that states lower the limit to 55 to reach vulnerable communities.
Data supports his point.
Among people ages 55 to 64, Black and Latino death rates nationally are at least five times higher than for white people, according to the Brookings Institution, which analyzed CDC data.
Virus hits multigenerational counties
Some of the counties that the Center for Public Integrity found to have exceptionally large concentrations of multigenerational households have also been ravaged by COVID-19.
In the Latino majority border community of Webb County, Texas, 36% of households are multigenerational, one of the highest concentrations in the country. At least 1 in 6 residents has been infected, and close to 30% of residents lack health insurance. In two California counties, San Bernardino and Imperial, two majority Latino counties, 30% of households are multigenerational. Elsewhere in the country, these households are common among white families in West Virginia, Kentucky and other parts of Appalachia.
The South is home to large proportions of Black multigenerational households, especially in the Mississippi Delta.
Mississippi announced March 15 that it will allow anyone 16 or older to try to book an appointment. That allows Paege Fuller, 35, to start trying. Fuller and her son, 11, moved back to Jackson from Houston after she lost her job because of the pandemic. Fuller is Black, as is 38% of Mississippi’s population. Although Black residents account for roughly 39% of COVID-19 deaths, the state estimates that, through March 22, they were only 28% of those vaccinated.
Fuller lives with her mother, who works outside the home. Her grandparents, 86 and 87, live nearby, and she helps them shop and attend church virtually on an iPad. Fuller struggled for days to make a vaccine appointment for them, too. Her grandparents finally got shots in February. But the whole family is still fearful, especially as variants of the virus circulate that may be partially resistant to the vaccine.
“Those are my grandparents,” Fuller said. “They took care of me, so it's my time to take care of them, and I want them around as long as possible.”
The Muriels, a Latino family in Florida’s Hernando County, know how easily the virus can spread inside a larger household.
In their Gulf Coast community north of Tampa, about 19% of households are multigenerational, one of the biggest concentrations in Florida. The Muriel household includes Kathy, 59, her husband, 58, and four sons, ages 24 to 32. They all tested positive for COVID-19 last year.
The family tried to fend off the virus with hand-washing, masks and distancing in public. But it was unnatural to be so careful at home. “By the time we figured out, ‘I think you may have COVID,’ we all went down within a week’s time,” Kathy Muriel said.
For months last summer, the family fought the virus’s stew of symptoms: sore throat, body ache, fever chills, fatigue and eyeball pain. They’ve all recovered but worry that a variant could return like an unwanted and potentially deadly guest.
Florida is prioritizing seniors 65 and older but recently opened eligibility to those older than 50. Muriel and her husband can try to make an appointment now. One of her sons, a nursing home worker, was vaccinated in February.
But her other adult sons must continue to wait.
Trang Tu, who lives with and cares for her 90-year-old mother Nguyet Dang, right, in their South Seattle home on March 30, 2021. (Scott Eklund via Red Box Pictures for Investigate West)
ZIP codes to get to families
In California, Imperial County public health workers fan out before dawn to find farmworkers to vaccinate. They hope their focus helps protect members of multigenerational families, close to one in three of all households here. In Los Angeles County — 27% multigenerational — labor activists also pushed for vaccinating people at work to try to protect hard-hit, blue-collar households.
Imperial is one of America’s primary vegetable growing regions, with workers toiling through the pandemic. Last June, the county had the highest COVID-19 death rate in California. It’s still a high-risk community, with at least one in seven people estimated to have been infected.
California health officials have a different approach to reach multigenerational families in Imperial and similar counties. The state is sending 40% of its vaccine supply to ZIP codes in the lowest quartile of an index it calls "healthy places."
One factor in that score: how crowded the housing is.
“It is the most equitable way to distribute our still-limited vaccine supply,” the state said in a fact sheet about its plan. The state also reserves appointments in a registration system for residents in “disproportionately affected communities.”
Imperial County Health Officer Dr. Stephen Munday sait targeting multigenerational households “certainly makes a lot of sense,” but the county is following the state’s plan. Munday also pointed out that early studies didn’t determine how effective vaccines were at preventing people from spreading the virus because they still could carry it and appear asymptomatic.
Though inconclusive, new data shows signs that some vaccines could reduce transmission. If confirmed, Munday said, it’s possible health officials could develop strategies that include building “mini herd immunity” within multigenerational homes.
Rocky rollout in Washington
Washington state health officials have translated COVID-19 vaccine web pages into multiple languages. Community groups are helping schedule appointments for eligible multigenerational households with members 50 and older. And nobody’s asking for proof of eligibility at sites, officials said, because they want people to feel comfortable coming forward.
Yet the campaign has still left some people out, according to Joseph Seia, executive director of the Pacific Islander Community Association of Washington.
Forcing people to go online to book a time at mass vaccine sites, he said, has been a Hunger Games-like competition, excluding elders and essential workers who don’t sit at desks with computers. He’s booking appointments at pop-up clinics targeting neighborhoods where residents face disproportionate risk of infection and death.
Sang Nguyen was vaccinated before he resigned from his nursing home job in February. His grandparents and parents were eligible weeks later as members of a multigenerational household, but several appointments they made were canceled. Not enough vaccines, they were told.
They were finally vaccinated in mid-March — a relief for the whole family.
Corrects photo credit on captions.
