NOTES:
To those looking at this doc the report has been released. I have written another letter to MPs asking what they will do as a result of the report.
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Letter below:
Dear [MP],
Hope this message finds you well and safe.
I am writing to you today as one of your constituents in response to Public Health England’s Disparities in the risk and outcomes of COVID-19 report, which after the government said would not be released today, was uploaded to the Public Health England website.
I’m sure that you will find the findings of this report as shocking and upsetting as I do. There is a lot to unpick and discuss, but for the sake of this email I am going to highlight just a few of the sections I found particularly disturbing.
According to the report, “[t]he mortality rates from COVID-19 in the most deprived areas were more than double the least deprived areas, for both males and females… High diagnosis rates may be due to geographic proximity to infections or a high proportion of workers in occupations that are more likely to be exposed. Poor outcomes from COVID-19 infection in deprived areas remain after adjusting for age, sex, region and ethnicity, but the role of comorbidities requires further investigation”.
As I’m sure you know, according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, BAME people are twice as likely to be in poverty. This leads me onto my second point: the disproportionate number of BAME people who have been affected by, and lost their lives because of COVID-19. The report states:
“An analysis of survival among confirmed COVID-19 cases shows that, after accounting for the effect of sex, age, deprivation and region, people of Bangladeshi ethnicity had around twice the risk of death when compared to people of White British ethnicity. People of Chinese, Indian, Pakistani, Other Asian, Caribbean and Other Black ethnicity had between 10 and 50% higher risk of death when compared to White British.
“Death rates from COVID-19 were higher for Black and Asian ethnic groups when compared to White ethnic groups. This is the opposite of what is seen in previous years, when the all cause mortality rates were lower in Asian and Black ethnic groups. Therefore, the inequality in COVID-19 mortality between ethnic groups is the opposite of that seen for all causes of death in previous years.” [Page 39]
As the journalist and activist Ben Smoke pointed out on Twitter, the report also makes allusions to the “cultural and language barriers" that BAME people face, without mentioning the Conservative government’s legislation, which has implemented barriers in the form of the hostile environment.
It also does little to interrogate the persistent health inequalities that Black, Asian and other minority groups experience, which are symptoms of wider systemic racism in the UK. Similarly, it doesn’t explore how a decade of austerity has wiped out the NHS, nor does it examine the role of entrenched poverty and oppression.
I also want to draw attention to the shocking figures regarding deaths in care homes [Page 57]. The report states: “The excess mortality model suggests that there have been 2.3 times the number of deaths in care homes than expected between 20 March and 7 May which equates to around 20,457 excess deaths. The number of COVID-19 deaths over this period is equivalent to 46.4% of the excess, suggesting that there were many excess deaths from other causes or an under-reporting of deaths from COVID-19.”
Of course, this report has been put together quickly using data made available to PHE. It also doesn’t provide a solution. However, the findings in this report do highlight the inequalities that are pervasive in our society. It highlights the systemic change and restructuring that needs to occur in order for people in society to be treated equally. When Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups are most at risk of poverty and illness, that is proof that the society we live in is inherently racist.
I am writing to you today to say: please help this report make a change. So many times, the government orders an inquiry or report, and yet no one is held accountable and nothing changes. Look at Grenfell! Where is their justice? Look at the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry and the continuing racism and failures of the Metropolitan Police Service.
As the report says: “As the numbers of new COVID-19 cases decrease, monitoring the infection among those most at risk will become increasingly important. It seems likely that it will be
difficult to control the spread of COVID-19 unless these inequalities can be addressed."
To quote Ben Smoke again, “structurally and institutionally Black lives are seen as expendable and worth less than their white counterparts. We cannot go on like this.”
Thanks so much for your time.
Best,
[Name]