All the Things: Pandemics and race, and the ways things are changing forever
You know, to keep it light!
This week, our current situation might have felt harder or weirder for some of us. A lot of people would likely have gotten together with family this week, for Passover or Easter. Here in Newfoundland and Labrador, our provincial government spent a lot of time reminding us of the potential dangers of hosting our regular Easter celebrations.
I hope that whatever your week involved, and whomever you were able to spend it with, you were safe and able to connect in some way with the people most important to you.
Around the World
In Canada (22,100 cases, 570 deaths), COVID-19 testing continues to increase but is still far below the levels everyone would like to see, across the country. Meanwhile, Canadians with disabilities are going without services many of them rely on every day, and new unemployment numbers showed that women and youth were hit especially hard.
California’s early containment measures seem to be working, and New York is reporting decreases in hospital admissions. But on the largest Native American reservation in the United States (501,600 cases, 18,777 deaths), cases and deaths are rising far more quickly than in its entire state.
Ecuador (7,100 cases, 297 deaths) is serving as a sad warning about the potential impact of coronavirus in South America. Deaths have surged in Guayaquil, and the official death count is likely far too low — more than 1,300 bodies have been removed from homes in the city since late March.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson appears to be recovering from COVID-19, but when he’s back in the public eye he should expect to face hard questions about how the United Kingdom (74,600 cases, 8,974 deaths) did — and did not — respond to the growing pandemic. In the country, 19 NHS staffers have died of coronavirus so far.
Sao Paolo is using location tracking data to monitor how well people in Brazil (19,900 cases, 1,074 deaths) are following quarantine measures, which were extended this week to April 22.
Japan (6,000 cases, 99 deaths) https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/coronavirus-japan-telework-business-culture/2020/04/05/a420a39a-74ec-11ea-ad9b-254ec99993bc_story.html
Russia (13,500 cases, 106 deaths) is beginning to acknowledge the spread of coronavirus within its borders. It is another country among those using digital surveillance to track citizens under lockdown, but there are concerns these measures won’t end when the pandemic does.
In China (83,000 cases, 3,343 deaths), the first COVID-19 case was reported in Wuhan. This week, lockdown in the city officially ended but life is far from normal. Now China and other countries that were among the first to find coronavirus cases have a new focus: keeping it from returning.
Sweden (9,685 cases, 870 deaths) stands apart from its neighboring countries in the relative mildness of its approach to COVID-19 containment. There are concerns inside and outside of the country that this will backfire terribly.
The numbers of daily new cases in Iran (68,000 cases, 4,232 deaths) are now dropping, but survivors and the families of people who died of COVID-19 said that medical workers did their best, but slow action from the government made the situation worse.
India (7,600 cases, 249 deaths), the world’s second-most-populous country, remains under lockdown due to coronavirus — which has stranded thousands of people from other countries along with Indians who were far from home when the measures were put in place.
Spain (158,200 cases, 16,081 deaths) is also seeing decreases in daily new cases but the virus has had a devastating toll in the country, which is second in the world for cases and third for deaths. As the country begins to focus on recovery, efforts to create a universal basic income are beginning.
Does COVID-19 discriminate?
That is, on one level, a dumb question. A virus doesn’t know anything about the person it infects. Any of us can contract COVID-19.
But on another level, the coronavirus pandemic is exposing the very real health and wealth disparities that are a part of life around the world. In particular, the health disparities experienced by Black Americans (and, I assume, Canadians, though I have not seen much data or reporting on the situation here yet) are having serious consequences for their communities right now.
Black Americans are being infected with — and dying from — COVID-19 at a disproportionately high rate. According to an analysis by the Washington Post, majority-Black counties in the U.S. have three times the rate of infection and nearly six times the rate of deaths compared to majority-white counties.
For example, in Milwaukee, the majority of COVID-19 cases are middle-aged Black men, and the first three confirmed deaths in the city were Black men in their 50s and 60s. The city’s health commissioner pointed to Milwaukee’s history of segregation and redlining and its lasting effects as one reason for the devastating impact on its Black residents and said that the COVID-19 disparity lined up with other health disparities in the city.
The coronavirus outbreak is also worsening in Michigan, having a devastating effect on some families. Other states like Illinois, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Connecticut also have racial disparities in positive cases compared to the overall population, as do cities like New York City, Washington DC, and Las Vegas.
Part of the way that health disparities play out is in the extra effort some people must put in just to get the care they need — to be believed about what their bodies are experiencing. This is happening to Black Americans right now too, as they fight to get tested and treated.
Of course, not all of the effects of COVID-19 are on personal health. Black Americans are also disproportionately hurt by a lack of paid leave in the service industry, the loss of health insurance, and housing bias. In one example, EPA regulations that offer some protection to Black communities in parts of the U.S. are being loosened at the same time that those communities are feeling the disproportionate effects of the pandemic.
It’s all a reminder that racism is a lot more insidious and entrenched than calling someone a vulgar name. Of course, a lot of people don’t need this reminder because they live it. I have no personal experience to share here or solutions to offer. I’m not in a position to tell anybody how to fix this. But pointing out the obvious, and sharing a bit of information about it, feels like the least I can do.
Other Things
As it turns out, “retiring” at 30 based on wealth that exists mostly in the stock market and Airbnb listings might not be a very good plan! It has turned out not to be a great strategy for Airbnb itself, which has spent years resisting regulation but is now asking for government bailouts and which may have to put off its plans to go public.
Social distancing and lockdown measures are changing the way we use the internet, at least in the short term. We’re watching more online content, spending more time on Facebook, and going all-in on video chat. It’s also changing language. It will be interesting to see which changes stick once we return to something akin to normal.
The far right considers a global pandemic a great recruitment and harassment opportunity, so that’s delightful.
This *waves hands around despairingly* could also change the way we engage with the world outside of our homes, which we have all been stuck in for weeks now. In order to facilitate social distancing, cities around the world are finding ways to reclaim street space for pedestrians, cyclists, and other people not in motor vehicles. Other cities are working to get public transit investments sped up. We’re seeing the importance of parks as public spaces, now that many of us can’t use them.
One of the other back-to-normal changes I am curious about is our current social (if not official) reclassification of who is or is not an essential worker. Many of the people we are most heavily relying on right now do their jobs for low wages, with no union protections or guaranteed hours. Considering the health risks some of them are undertaking right now, their willingness to continue under those circumstances is likely to reach historic lows, for understandable reasons.
And no, 5G is not somehow linked to COVID-19. FFS.