Page - 412 - in VULNERABLE - The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19

VULNERABLE412 chronic stress, thus compromising their immunity and making them more susceptible to infection.20 Indeed, preliminary data from Canada and abroad indicate that the current pandemic disproportionately impacts low-income, racialized neighbourhoods.21 Othering of Migrants in Canada’s COVID-19 Responses Despite being subjected to an elevated risk of infection, many migrants in Canada remain left out of government programs that are key to pre- venting and alleviating the deleterious impact of COVID-19, includ- ing health care and income support. Prior to the pandemic, migrants’ entitlement to publicly funded health care in Canada depended on their immigration and resident statuses, and it sometimes varied from one province/terri- tory to another.22 Broadly speaking, provincial and territorial health care plans covered all permanent residents. Some jurisdictions also extended coverage to both migrant workers and international stu- dents, while others only the former; in approximately half of the prov- inces and territories, these temporary residents must possess a permit valid for at least six months to qualify, whereas in the other half their permit must be good for one year or longer. In Quebec, Ontario, and British Columbia, eligible migrants generally had to wait for up to three months before their health care coverage would take effect. Some refugees and asylum seekers received health care from a federal program instead, but undocumented migrants were excluded from all government health care benefits. Following the onset of the COVID-19 outbreaks, several prov- inces have decided to expand migrants’ entitlement under their 20. Sylvia Reitmanova & Diana Gustafson, “Rethinking Immigrant Tuberculosis Control in Canada: From Medical Surveillance to Tackling Social Determinants of Health” (2012) 14 J Immigrant & Minority Health 6. 21. See e.g. Hannah Chung et al, COVID-19  Laboratory  Testing  in  Ontario:  Patterns  of  Testing  and  Characteristics  of  Individuals  Tested,  as  of  April 30,  2020, (Toronto: ICES, 2020) at 14, online: <ices.on.ca/Publications/Atlases-and-Reports/2020/COVID- 19-Laboratory-Testing-in-Ontario>; Jarvis T Chen & Nancy Krieger, “Revealing the Unequal Burden of COVID-19 by Income, Race/Ethnicity, and Household Crowding: US County vs. ZIP Code Analyses” (2020) Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies Working Paper 19:1, online: <tinyurl.com/ ya44we2r>. 22. YY Brandon Chen, “Social Determinants & Marginalized Populations” in Joanna Erdman, Vanessa Gruben & Erin Nelson, eds, Canadian  Health  Law  and  Policy, 5th ed (Toronto: LexisNexis, 2017) 527.