Don't blame the BAME: Ethnic and structural inequalities in susceptibilities to COVID‐19

Abstract

One of the striking features emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic has been the early recognition of ethnic disparities in both vulnerability to contracting the disease, as well as its outcome. These disparities were first reported in news outlets (

Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on animal behaviour and welfare researchers

“…Internet access may have been especially problematic in developing countries, thereby contributing to increased inequality ( Niner et al, 2020 ). Although it was not addressed here, we should be considerate of the consequences of the pandemic on BAME (Black, Asian, and minority ethnic) communities ( Bentley, 2020 ; Kirby, 2020 ).…”

There are similarities between rheumatic disease with lung involvement and COVID-19 pneumonia

“…Disproportionate numbers of deaths have occurred in men of Black or Asian minority ethnic (BAME) origin, who have a mortality 2-4 times greater than Caucasian males in the UK [13,14] and United States (US) [15]. This is unlikely to be entirely explained by poverty, exposure or co-morbidity and may be contributed to by blood group [16].…”

Who Gets Cured? COVID-19 and Developing a Critical Medical Sociology and Anthropology of Cure

“…COVID-19 elicits a variety of human immune responses (e.g., acute, chronic, mild, and also uncertain recovery) that we do not yet understand, in both people who are seemingly healthy or have pre-existing conditions. We know that that certain sections of the population (e.g., linked to structural inequalities, ill-health, co-morbidities, age, disabilities and biology) are at greater risk from COVID-19 (Bentley, 2020 ). People who have COVID-19 can also be asymptomatic carriers (see Gandhi et al, 2020 ), as well as possibly get reinfected after recovery, further complicating our ideas of symptoms and signs, as well as clinical and social understandings of how the virus spreads.…”