COVID-19 outbreak impact on the wellbeing of migrants in U.S. college towns: The case of Gainesville, Florida

Abstract

A major characteristic of U.S. college towns is the continuous influx of migrants who come to study and work under a visa. Unfortunately, these groups are underrepresented in pandemic and disaster studies, even though they can be more vulnerable in the face of pandemics due to the limited access to resources, cultural differences, and social discrimination. The main goal of our study is to help close this research gap by answering the following research question: How did the COVID-19 outbreak impact the wellbeing of migrants in Gainesville, Florida? The data was collected through a qualitative approach. This involved semi-structured interviews with eleven migrants from Gainesville, Florida, to more explicitly understand how their experiences as international students, and migrants, impacted their wellbeing during the pandemic. Three main themes resulted from the qualitative analysis of the interviews; 1) Emotional struggles and socioeconomic challenges, 2) Discrimination and lack of government and institutional support, and 3) Communication challenges. Migrants carry their unique stories with them, and when they go back to their home countries, usually their stories are lost and gone with them. By capturing the emotional challenges and hardships they faced during the COVID-19 outbreak, this paper presents a significant opportunity to study culturally different groups who went through a serious life transition, and offers critical policy insights that help in their empowerment, and that enhances the overall crisis management practices and risk mitigation strategies that U.S. college towns should consider.