For much of April and May the media has, quite rightly, focused on the emerging evidence which suggests that the coronavirus is having a disproportionate and irrevocable impact on the lives of people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities. It has also been awash with articles speculating on why this might be.
Much has been written about the cultural and socioeconomic factors which could be making people of colour vulnerable to Covid-19. It is posited that people from non-White backgrounds are more likely to live in deprived, densely populated urban areas and in overcrowded, multi-generational households, making it harder for them to self-isolate and practice social distancing.
Many news outlets have also reported on the medical predispositions to cardiovascular disease, diabetes and hypertension, putting people on a collision course with Covid-19. Such outlets have also emphasised the propensity for ethnic minorities to be employed in low-paid, public facing roles, thereby increasing their risk of exposure to the virus.
These interpretations of the early data conveniently omit to mention that the first 10 senior healthcare workers to die from Covid-19 were experienced BAME doctors or consultants earning between £79,000 and £110,000 per annum. Hardly the minimum wage. This overlooked observation suggests that biology, sociology and structural racism may be at play. But we can’t jump to any conclusions, because we don’t have all the facts. We are less than six months into a pandemic that could last years.
What we do know is the government has consistently failed to provide lifesaving PPE to frontline staff. There has been a lack of meaningful testing, contact tracing and quarantine; and there was a delay in introducing lockdown when the World Health Organisation warned that without these measures in place, huge numbers of people would die.
So, while the government review into the impact of the virus on people from BAME communities is welcome, so too would be a public inquiry into the government’s gross mishandling of an pandemic that has so far cost more than 40,000 people, across all ethnicities, their lives.
