COVID-19

So there’s a lot in the media (that you may have seen) about how BAME communities are more affected by COVID and how COVID patients seem to be disproportionately POC. This is information which has become more and more prevalent, and in the UK an inquiry has been launched into the impact of COVID on BAME communities. [LINK TO PROOF] The following is a list, adapted from a thread we made on twitter, on how systematic racim (not any inherent “biological difference” between races, a concept that literally doesn’t exist) has lead to the increased chace of catching and dying due to COVID-19 people of colour face.

• Even early figures showed that 35% of 2000 Covid-19 patients in ICU were BAME compared to the 14% that of the population of England, Wales and NI which are non-white.
• Analysis from the Institute of Fiscal Studies show that the death rate of British black Africans and British Pakistanis in hospitals in England is 2.5 times that of the white population.
• As for frontline NHS staff who have been infected, the majority who have died have been BAME. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/16/inquiry-disproportionate-impact-coronavirus-bame There are many possible reasons behind this:
• A third of all working-age Black people in the UK are employed in key worker roles (these being essential work roles that are vital to public health and safety e.g. in health and social care, food chain workers, postal workers e.t.c) – 50% more than the White British population
• Additionally, Pakistani, Indian and Black African men are respectively 90%, 150% and 310% more likely to work in healthcare than white British men.
• Another cause is that both Black and South Asian people are at a higher risk of developing coronary heart disease, hypertension and diabetes, which are all risk factors for dying if contracting COVID-19
• Another health related cause is low levels of vitamin D present in members of the BAME population due to having darker skin- vitamin D is required by the body to preserve a functioning immune system – being deficient will put your immunity at risk
• https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/coronavirus-low-vitamin-d-levels-risk-symptoms-a9520496.html – article which mentions how white people have levels of vitamin D 53% higher than BAME people
• However, it is easy to blame factors like health and genetics as the main factors behind the large numbers of BAME deaths due to COVID- this takes the spotlight off socioeconomic factors – these are huge factors and should not be ignored!
• https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/may/07/the-guardian-view-on-bame-death-rates-inequality-and-injustice – this article highlights socioeconomic reasons behind BAME deaths
• Poverty plays a huge role in who gets hurt the most by disease – Black, Bangledeshi and Pakistani groups face higher levels of unemployment and child poverty, and are therefore more likely to live in more crowded conditions
• Poverty impacts the stress levels, food choices etc of BAME individuals, leading to the COVID19 risk factors, making them more at risk – http://www.irr.org.uk/research/statistics/poverty/
• Even factors such as the prevalence of diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease in BAME people (which are risk factors for COVID) cannot be seen as completely devoid from institutional racism
• BAME doctors also feel less able to complain about not having adequate PPE, & BAME doctors and nurses are bullied at much higher levels compared to their white counterparts, and are twice as likely not to raise concerns due to fear of pushback
• https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/apr/10/uk-coronavirus-deaths-bame-doctors-bma
• Three-quarters of BAME medical staff are worried about contracting the virus – https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/may/18/over-three-quarters-of-bame-doctors-fear-they-will-contract-covid-19
• Even in trying to research and create a vaccine, overt racism rears its ugly head: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-52151722
• There is a nasty legacy of medical testing occurring on black bodies, and it is absolutely disgusting that Africa would be a target of trialling the coronavirus vaccine
• Tr*mp also backed testing a coronavirus vaccine in Mumbai slums:     https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-17/trump-backed-drug-to-be-tested-on-thousands-in-mumbai-slums
• BAME individuals may also exhibit different symptoms to white people if they catch COVID – https://twitter.com/judeblay/status/1250745557041233920
• There has also been massive increase in racist attacks against Asian people in the West over COVID – https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/24/coronavirus-us-asian-americans-racism
• It also exposed China’s long history of racism and anti-black sentiments: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/25/coronavirus-exposed-china-history-racism-africans-guangzhou

BAME students affected by COVID

• Now to turn this into how BAME students are in particular affected by COVID – school age students are being affected by the governments use of modelling predicted grades
• https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-is-hitting-bame-communities-hard-on-every-front-136327 – Schools which are in more challenging socio-economic backgrounds give lower predicted grades to their students – many of whom are BAME
• For BAME postgraduate students, there may be a disparity in their wealth vs their white counterparts, leading to them being more affected by COVID, especially in the case of lack of funding
• A lot of BAME postgraduate students are still in their overdrafts and living paycheck to paycheck, having an unfunded extension may simply not be feasible
• Young carers are also 1.5x more likely to be from BAME backgrounds – some BAME postgrads may also be carers, and the relatives they are caring for may be more susceptible to COVID
• In general the stress of having relatives who are more at risk to catch and die from COVID due to their ethnicities puts a lot of pressure on BAME PGR students. It is very hard to try and make sure BAME parents and relatives are okay, especially when quarantining far away.
• It is of vital importance that BAME PGR students are supported in this time – many may be reticent to talk about the effects of COVID on themselves and their families. The impact of race and of institutional racism must not be overlooked.
• If we are to make academia a better, more welcoming place for BAME individuals, we need to make sure that we understand how the barriers BAME people face in academia are exacerbated by the COVID crisis.