The Great Division

by Panagiotis Sotiris

Although the great epidemics of the past are often presented as the great equalizers, there is a growing number of evidences that we are not all equal during this pandemic, just as we are not all equal in life and in death. The deep divisions and great inequalities that pervade modern societies, the insurmountable obstacles that arise in access to goods, services and chances, play a role in the pandemic, too.

Data from the US is shocking. The percentage of African, American and Hispanic victims in some states, such as New York, is higher than their population, and there are many victims under the age of 65. There is no relation with genetic predispositions, but with the social conditions in which they live. Lower incomes, more insecurity, worse nutrition, smaller homes, more pollution, more working hours and more adverse conditions, no time for physical exercise, lack of access to healthcare, more underlying health conditions, which have all high-impact for someone affected by COVID-19. And it’s not just in the US. In France, the proportion of cases and victims in working-class and immigrant Paris suburbs is higher than in "middle class" neighborhoods.

At the same time, we found out painfully that although the general line was "stay home", this did not apply to everyone. In most developed countries we see a "middle class" that can work remotely or limit professional activity without great losses. They can enjoy the family warmth and post videos on social media with the recipes they discovered and tested, or comment how quarantine helped family members to "get closer". However, there are many social layers that cannot afford to "stay home", because they have to work. From the front line hospital workers to supply chains, industries, transport companies, construction, cleaning.

Inequality

There are social layers at risk, who know that if they decide to put their health above all and "stay home", they will have to pay the high price of unemployment, like all those who are currently in industries that are in compulsory suspension. Social layers for which the concept of "home" does not mean the same thing as for the "middle class", who cannot have the same comfort to take care of their "healthy" nutrition, especially when they have to do two jobs or just to wait when the employer will call them, as they have a "zero-hour contract", which means they only work when there is a job, or because their job needs to wait for a notification from a distribution platform that employs them. Social layers that depend on the accessibility and quality of the basic health infrastructure, and that most of the times address to the public health systems only when there is a serious problem, which is the reason they have more underlying and more serious health problems. Layers that at the same time do not live the "creative stress" of those who pursue careers, but the disastrous for the physical and mental health socio-economic stress, caused by their constant confrontation with inequality, insecurity, with all kinds of formal and informal exclusions, with anti-immigration policies.

In the pandemic, the great division of our societies is here. And I am very afraid that division will continue to be here. We may are watching today the world’s largest coordinated global public health measures, with the implemented measures of physical distancing and restriction of activities, but we are not watching the same global coordinated effort to tackle the growing inequalities and growing insecurity of the global workforce, although all these measures would be the most important investment to improve the global health, too. On the contrary, even in the pandemic, there are growing indications that the next day and the "return to normalcy" will only worsen the situation, having to confront with austerity policies, increased unemployment and insecurity, even with work flexibility.

*πρώτη δημοσίευση: www.in.gr