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Surgeon says COVID-19 cases in the Hmong community spread through cultural, family gatherings

According to recent data from the Minnesota Dept. of Health, 5% of the total number of people who tested positive for COVID-19 are from the Asian community.

Dr. David Thoa is a surgeon and board member with the Hmong Medical Association.

"Our goal is to pretty much provide outreach and education to the Hmong community as it pertains to healthcare," says Dr. David Thao, M.D., a Plastic Surgeon at Woodbury Plastic Surgery. 

For the last nine months, Dr. Thao used his medical expertise to inform, bridging the language gap among those who may be most at risk in the Hmong community.

"The people who just came to the US who don't have the resources or technology to really learn through English," he says. "Being from Hmong background provides sort of that connection from the western medicine to the Hmong community."

According to the Minnesota historical society, there are more than 66,000 members of the Hmong community in the state. According to recent data from the Minnesota Dept. of Health, 5% of the total number of people who tested positive for COVID 19 are from the Asian community. 

"Hmong community is at risk for COVID because of the ease of transmission," he says.

Dr. Thoa says large cultural gatherings may be leading to the spread of the virus, including Hmong funerals – which can span days. 

"The whole community is about family, communal, celebration," he says. "It's famly gatherings, funerals and weddings the small gatherings where you let your guard down," he says.

Now, he's working to educate those most at risk in the Hmong community, one video at a time.


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