Contrasting Narratives of Race and Fatness in Covid-19

Abstract

The slogan that ‘the virus doesn’t discriminate’ has been belied by the emergence of stark and persistent disparities in rates of infection, hospitalisation, and death from Covid-19 between various social groups. I focus on two groups that have been disproportionately affected, and that have been constructed or designated as particularly ‘at-risk’ during the Covid-19 pandemic: racial or ethnic minorities and fat people. I trace the range of narratives that have arisen in the context of explaining these disparities, in both the scientific literature and wider expert and public discourse. I show that the scientific and public narratives around these groups have differed significantly, revealing contested and competing conceptions of the basis of these categories themselves. These different conceptions have important impacts on the kinds of interventions that become possible or desirable. I show that in the case of racial or ethnic disparities, genetic narratives have been combatted by a strong focus on structural racism as a driver of pandemic inequalities. However, in the case of fatness, individualising and stigmatising narratives have dominated discussions. I suggest that, given racial or ethnic differences in prevalence of fatness, and scholarship casting anti-fatness as historically racialised, the stigmatisation of fatness disproportionately affects racial or ethnic minorities in terms of placing individual blame or responsibility for the increased burden of Covid-19 on these groups. Despite widespread acknowledgement of the role of structural racism in driving racial inequalities in the burden of Covid-19, anti-obesity rhetoric and research provides a ‘backdoor’ to placing blame on individuals from racial minorities.

The failure of drug repurposing for COVID-19 as an effect of excessive hypothesis testing and weak mechanistic evidence

“…First of all, we should distinguish between the state of regular science and science doing in the state of global crisis. The current situation raises many concerns and issues, both scientific and social (Chellappoo, 2021 ; Mercuri, 2020 ). Considering the uncertainties related to the public health emergency, many decisions concerning science and its application may be made without the standard procedures.…”

Self-Identified Fat Peoples Experiences of COVID-19 Vaccination Centre's in Aotearoa NZ

“…The increased risk of transmission rate can thus be said to be attributed to faults in equipment size rather than the weight of the individuals. Furthermore, fat people are often placed at blame for this increased risk of their weight, reinforcing the idea that weight management was central to combatting the pandemic (Chellappoo, 2021;Goldberg, 2017;Knox, 2019). Both academic and media circulation of this narrative has increased the shaming and blaming of fat individuals for becoming at risk or sick (Dolezal & Spratt, 2023;Manolis et al, 2021;Pausé et al, 2021;Silverio et al, 2021).…”

“…A small but growing area of literature demonstrates the ways in which public health discourses have compounded and amplified the dynamic of fat stigma and discrimination in COVID-19 pandemic health system responses (Dolezal & Spratt, 2023;Monaghan, 2013;Pausé et al, 2021;Warbrick et al, 2019). Existing myths and attitudes about fat being unhealthy and the result of poor self-management, have underpinned an emerging discourse during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic that people with a high BMI were at an increased risk of severe COVID-19 symptoms and were to blame for this predicament (Chellappoo, 2021;De Lorenzo et al, 2022).…”

“…2021). This includes the underserving of Māori and Pacifica peoples, people with disabilities and the fat community, in healthcare plans and disaster preparedness that ultimately results in poorer health outcomes for these groups (Chellappoo, 2021;Talamaivao, 2020). There is subsequently much to be learned from understanding how minoritized populations accessed and experienced vaccination against COVID-19.…”