CLEVELAND — Researchers at Cleveland's Center for Community Solutions studying the effects of COVID-19 found that women were disproportionately affected by the virus.
A researcher with the group said when COVID-19 first hit, unemployment affected men and women rather evenly, but the group found men have been able to bounce back a bit more compared to women.
One in four women in Ohio said they are not confident they will be able to make next month’s rent.
Emily Campbell, of the Center for Community Solutions, said the reason is many women-dominated businesses have been hit harder by the pandemic. Many times, women are left taking care of the kids if day cares, camps and schools aren’t reopening.
As a result, women have delayed health care for themselves since March more so than men. The group estimates the health of about 250,000 women in Ohio is declining because they are not getting the preventative check-ups as they did prior to the pandemic.
“Certainly always concerned about prenatal care, making sure that women and their babies are getting the care while pregnant," Campbell said. "We’re also seeing women are putting off other kinds of reproductive health, like Pap smears, which is a screening test for cervical cancer which is treatable as long as it's caught early,” Campbell said.
Researchers also found at the end of last month, women made up the majority of coronavirus cases. Right now, 52% of Ohio’s cases are female.
"It’s no longer a disease that’s impacting just the elderly and it did look like it was impacting men more than women at the beginning but that’s no longer the case anymore," said Campbell.
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