Thread by @ddiamond

I’ve written often on the mismanaged response to COVID-19.

But for this story, I tried to get out of DC and show the collateral damage: how COVID surprised and then devastated a community of Pacific Islanders across the United States.

politico.com/news/magazine/…

(Thread.)

1. The story focuses on people from the Marshall Islands, who I’ve tracked for the past year.

The US used their homeland to test dozens of nuclear bombs; as the islanders resettled in places like Iowa and Arkansas, they were promised Medicaid before Congress yanked it away.

2. You might think you don’t know the Marshallese or their story. But you’ve probably seen footage of their struggles without realizing it.

Here’s video of the Castle Bravo nuclear test in 1954 — which exposed islanders to fallout — and was recycled for movies like Godzilla.

3. Back in January, POLITICO probed how that nuclear legacy contributed to poor health outcomes, and how lawmakers like @maziehirono @brianschatz @repcardenas were trying to fix the nation’s broken promise — and restore the islanders’ access to Medicaid.

politico.com/news/magazine/…

4. But then COVID arrived, and the Marshallese got sick faster — and more seriously — than virtually any other population.

An outbreak in Arkansas, where the Marshallese were 65x more likely to die than whites, was “staggering,” a CDC scientist concluded. politico.com/news/magazine/…

5. Other reporters have found similar disparities as COVID ravaged Marshallese from coast-to-coast and beyond.

In Hawaii, @ahofschneider has dug into how the virus walloped Marshallese and other islanders (not counting native Hawaiians). civilbeat.org/2020/11/hawaii…

6. So why are the Marshallese so vulnerable to COVID?

Many factors: housing, factory work, no Medicaid access—and pre-existing conditions.

The islanders “may be the least healthy of any ethnic group in the United States,” researcher @timhalliday7 wrote.

uhero.hawaii.edu/the-impact-of-…

7. Being barred from Medicaid has left the Marshallese overwhelmingly uninsured, and created new problems this year.

I spoke to one man named Nathan, whose wife died of Covid. He’s still getting bills for her care — nearly $120,000 since May. (We got some of that dismissed.)

8. POLITICO has chronicled how lawmakers like @maziehirono have tried to let the Marshallese access Medicaid, and asked Biden if he would too. (His campaign said yes.)

And Congress is weighing right now — like, *tonight* — whether to restore the islanders’ access to Medicaid.

9. It’s likely up to GOP lawmakers like McConnell whether the Marshallese get their access to Medicaid restored.

For the first time in 20 years, the House this spring passed a fix — with bipartisan support — and Chuck Schumer has told me he’s on board.

10. Meanwhile, the Marshallese continue to struggle amid the pandemic.

First, consumed by a “tsunami of horror” as COVID swept through their communities, one official said.

Now, stigmatized as virus carriers and grieving their losses. politico.com/news/magazine/…

I hope you’ll find a few moments to read the piece, even for a small window on the Marshallese. politico.com/news/magazine/…

Thanks to @ReportingHealth for supporting this work, and @cbudoffbrown @JoanneKenen @petercanellos for encouraging me to chase this story around the country.