How Racism And Inequality Have Left Minorities Most At Risk From Covid-19
As many as a third of coronavirus patients may be Black or Asian, nearly three times the 13% proportion of the UK population that they make up.
Some 14% of those with the most serious cases were Black and the same amount were Asian, according to the research, sparking calls for further probes into structural inequality and health outcomes.
The alarming figures come from a study of 2,000 people by the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre (ICNARC).
Lord Simon Woolley, chair of the landmark Race Disparity Audit’s advisory group, said this research reflected the need for the government to appoint a minister dedicated to furthering racial equality.
“This should be a wake up call for the government in regard to how it responds,” he told HuffPost UK.
“There must be a minister with responsibility for race that needs to sit around these decision making tables ensuring how they mitigate the disproportionate impact that is occurring for Black and minority communities; this has to be at a cabinet level.
″This is urgent and it’s right because in greater numbers it is our communities saving lives. So there’s a moral response to this as well as an economic and political response that the policy should close inequalities rather than ignore it.”
The study is thought to be the first analysis of its kind anywhere in the world looking at the ethnic breakdown of cases of Covid-19.
So, why are Black, Asian and minority ethnic people more susceptible to becoming critically ill as a result of coronavirus?
For starters, these communities are at greater risk of developing long-term health conditions. Over-65s in four ethnic groups – Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Gypsy and Irish Traveller, and Arab – have particularly poor health-related quality of life.
Studies also show people with south Asian backgrounds have a higher prevalence of diabetes and heart disease, which are two of the health conditions that puts people in the higher risk categories for...
