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How the pandemic shines a light on social inequality
Economic, gender and educational inequality has always been there, but the coronavirus has made those differences more visible. People without homes can’t stay indoors. Those in low-earning jobs are returning to workplaces, while those who used to work in offices still work from home.
How healthcare workers are confronted by the unequal consequences of Covid-19 In: Boston Review (16 July)This article, co-written by a doctor in Connecticut, a psychiatrist, and a historian of medicine, was sent to me by my partner, who is a front-line healthcare worker at a children’s hospital here in Minnesota. "This is exactly how I feel," she said.
The article is an intimate portrait of life at the frontlines of the coronavirus crisis as it exposes deep racial, economic, and ethical divides in the United States, and the failures of the healthcare system that have enabled it. Throughout the crisis, healthcare workers have been portrayed as heroes risking their lives for the greater good. But the deaths of healthcare workers are not some inevitable consequence of this disease, just like the deaths of black men and women at the hands of police are not an inevitable consequence of a society that prioritises justice.
Members of the medical community should engage in active resistance against an unjust system, the authors write. "Covid-19 should be a reality check for physicians," as it reveals "a new image of what it means to be a doctor". How the virus spread on the Diamond Princess cruise ship In: 1843 Magazine (22 April)
On 1 February, it was discovered that a passenger travelling on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, who had disembarked a week earlier in Hong Kong, was infected with coronavirus. Strangely, buffet dinners and concerts were still taking place on the ship three days later. After the guests were finally told to stay in their rooms for two weeks, starting on the evening of 4 February, they were told almost nothing more about new infections or death rates.
Most of the information that the people on the cruise ship could access was shared through Facebook and WhatsApp groups. Passengers sleeping in a room without windows were worried about the air they breathed through the ship’s ventilation system. Crew members who brought meals to the quarantined guests’ rooms infected each other in their cramped dormitories.
The Diamond Princess is a perfect example of the slowly unfolding disaster that occurs when healthy people are forced into quarantine among infected people. Over 700 of the more than 3,000 people on board eventually became infected with the virus, although "just" 14 patients died. We’re not consuming corona news much differently than ‘normal’ news In: Oxford University (15 April)
The Reuters Institute at Oxford University conducted a study of ‘corona news’ consumption among over 8,500 people in six countries (Argentina, Germany, South Korea, Spain, the UK and the US). The study’s conclusions aren’t significantly different from previous studies on consumption of regular news.
For example, people who are relatively less educated are more likely to rely on social media and messaging apps than on news organisations. And young adults (aged 18 to 24) also use Instagram and Snapchat extensively. The most striking conclusion is that one-third of those surveyed think that the media has been exaggerating how serious the pandemic is. Another interesting finding: in the US, but also in Spain, more than half of the population doesn’t trust government announcements.
However, the Oxford researchers note that accessing corona news via a specific media source (such as Google or YouTube) does not appear to be statistically significant in terms of knowing accurate information about the coronavirus. The most decisive factor is the highest level of education. Another ray of hope: the vast majority of people in all six countries surveyed do still trust doctors and health scientists, regardless of age, level of education or political preference. Coronavirus infection clusters need special strategies. Is ring-fencing a good one? In: Al Jazeera (8 April)
Clusters of coronavirus cases have been identified in the dormitories where migrant workers in Singapore are ordered to live. To contain the spread, about 20,000 of these workers have been confined to these dormitories. This strategy, known as "ring-fencing", might prevent wider spread, but it is also likely to ensure a spike in infection rates among the migrant workers. Coronavirus strikes even harder on the edges of society In: Tortoise (6 April)
We’ve read lots of writing about how the coronavirus is affecting people working in healthcare, education and the cultural sector. Tortoise gives a voice to people who are rarely given a chance to speak up, even when there’s no pandemic: informal carers, sex workers, homeless people, addicts, domestic workers and young adults who have just left the youth care system.
All these groups face their own problems. Sex workers feel compelled to continue working to avoid losing all their income, even if that means risking exposure to the virus. Homeless people are struggling to find temporary shelter, now that public transport is limited and airports are under stricter security. And domestic workers are being fired by the people normally reliant on their services, who no longer have any funds left to pay for a cleaner. Why social distancing won’t work for the Global South In: The Correspondent (27 March)
Social distancing is one of the most effective ways of slowing the spread of the coronavirus, but this advice is made for parts of the world that can retreat into individualism. In Lagos, Nigeria, social disancing is not an option. There isn’t enough physical space, and workers in precarious jobs can’t afford to take even one day off work.
What’s more, for people who are used to struggling to keep the wolf from the door, the coronavirus pandemic is just another problem to contend with. To fight this pandemic, Africa needs an African solution to a global problem. Why pandemics affect men and women differently In: The Atlantic (19 March)
Physically, the coronavirus seems to affect women less than men. But women will bear the brunt of the long-term consequences of the virus – and outbreaks of Ebola and Zika reminded us of that. Just think of who will do more of the homeschooling, or housework, or care for the children or the elderly who may be affected by the virus.
Journalist Helen Lewis argues that free time to write plays – like Shakespeare did during the plague of 1606 – is a luxury that can be afforded only to men. Governments should keep gender imbalances in mind during this crisis to come up with long-term solutions. A pandemic affects some people more than others In: London Review of Books (20 February)
Once upon a time, there was an Italian city that was plagued by an epidemic so severe that all residents had to stay home for 40 days. Those who broke quarantaine risked fines or imprisonment. The city was Florence, the epidemic was the Black Death, and the quarantine was proclaimed in 1631.
The Florentine quarantine is the subject of a book by historian John Henderson that came out last summer, which makes clear that the measures did not affect everybody equally. The authorities suspected poor inhabitants in particular of putting themselves first, and they were punished far more drastically whenever they did not abide by the rules.
When people living in poverty lost a family member to the plague, they had to bury their loved ones in mass graves outside the city walls, while the nobility were allowed to do so in church. Neither the book nor the review is connected to the coronavirus, but some groups are still being hit harder than others. This book serves as a profound memory.
Other far-reaching consequences of coronavirus
The pandemic has given rise to problems beyond health and economics. For instance, the spread of conspiracy theories, or the search for a scapegoat. These stories contextualise these dangers and explain what we can do against them.
The study that strongly influenced the US debate about coronavirus is sloppy at best In: BuzzFeed (15 May)In April, three influential scientists from Stanford University published an astonishing piece of research. Based on more than 3,000 blood samples that were taken in California, they concluded that the mortality rate of coronavirus was much lower than previously thought: 0.17%, instead of 1%. That would make this virus about as deadly as the flu.
The media, especially the conservative branches, covered the results enthusiastically. Coronavirus wasn’t so dangerous after all, their message went, so the economy could be opened up as soon as possible. But then a whistleblower who was involved in the study contacted BuzzFeed.
Extensive email communications between an airline executive and the authors of the study quickly came to light. He contributed $5,000 to their work, which fortified his business interests. Two other scientists who reviewed the test results questioned the test kits that were used: for instance, they didn’t always detect antibodies (the presence of which indicates an infection in the past). It became clear that the goal was publishing the study as quickly as possible to generate media attention – whether the results were trustworthy or not.
In fact, we can never calculate the exact mortality rate of the coronavirus. Both the amount of infections (mostly excluding those not severe enough to warrant a test) and casualties (people may die without getting tested) are lower in the official statistics than in reality. In jail, coronavirus is a perfect storm In: ProPublica (1 May)
When you’re locked up, there’s literally nowhere to go when coronavirus reaches your cell door. Inmates’ fears are justified in Harris County Jail (not to be confused with prison, where the population has already been through trial and found themselves convicted) in Houston, Texas. Contrary to prisons, where residents usually remain in the same place for long periods of time, jail populations undergo continuous change.
In several US jails, people have already died from coronavirus. In Houston, more than 400 inmates have been infected so far – about 5% of the total population. Social distancing proves impossible in the small dormitories and shared bathrooms. An inmate wrote in a letter that he washes his own clothes, fearing infection in the common laundry space.
Hundreds of inmates have been released on bail to tackle the problem, but the question is whether this is enough given the few tests that are being carried out, as well as the troublesome lack of cleaning materials. Demonstrating is more difficult during the pandemic, but protests continue on the internet and in our cars In: The Atlantic (23 April)
Now that we have to stay 1.5 metres apart, mass demonstrations have become impossible. People in Israel still demonstrated, occupying a city square at appropriate distances from other protesters, but most expressions of discontent have been relocated online. In some countries, such as Lebanon and the US, demonstrations are now being held in long queues of cars.
The advantages of online protesting are clear: no permits required, no cancellations due to weather or other factors, and people all over the world can join in. But the disadvantages are equally apparent: online protests are much easier for governments to ignore, don’t physically obstruct the authorities, and never generate high-impact, newsworthy photos that can be shared and reposted. How conspiracy theories spread, now more than ever In: The Conversation (20 April)
In various countries, including the Netherlands, telephone masts are being set on fire. Conspiracy theorists fear that 5G masts will spread the virus. The fact that the transmitter masts that are being attacked aren’t even 5G masts, is apparently irrelevant.
Online, the virus is being attributed to all sorts of people. It’s alleged to be a weapon unleashed by the CIA. Or maybe the Chinese government. Or it must be Bill Gates spreading the virus. Some are saying that the disease was designed by a shadowy elite seeking to thin out the population.
The Conversation, an Australian website offering ‘news and views’, has created a beautiful series of podcasts: an expert guide on the conspiracy theories that are currently circulating, who believe them, and how we should deal with them. The latest episode, number six, is a great point to jump in.
Amsterdam-based media expert Marc Tuters paints a picture of the online landscape in which these conspiracy theories flourish, and offers details on the role played by the notorious 4chan website. Coronavirus has brought Hollywood’s lack of hygiene into the spotlight In: Los Angeles Times (11 April)
The coronavirus has brought filming to a screeching halt for hundreds of films and TV shows. The new James Bond film and the latest in the Fast and the Furious franchise have been postponed for months, and the popular zombie series The Walking Dead abruptly came to an end without a season finale. The fact that Hollywood has been shut down is evidence of the often atrocious hygiene on film sets, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Film crews consisting of dozens or even hundreds of people work long days in tightly packed conditions, with hardly any time to go to the toilet, let alone wash their hands frequently. Meals are often served as an all-day buffet – paradise for pathogenic bacteria and viruses. And film shoots on location are the rule rather than the exception these days, far from a climate-controlled studio with proper sanitary facilities.
Worse yet, many projects don’t have the money (or don’t want to spend it) to stock up on cleaning products, soap and litter bins. The hope is that after the pandemic, once the actors are back in the spotlights and the cameras are rolling again, Hollywood will be more concerned about hygiene for its employees and the places they work. Don’t look for patient zero – stop blaming the others In: The New Republic (8 April)
As Covid-19 started spreading around the world, there were many stories of "patient zeros" being shared, all focusing on the personal responsibility and reckless attitude of single citizens in the face of a deadly virus. This attempt to blame single individuals is not new – and it is something that was done prominently with the outbreak of AIDS in the 1980s.
In this article, the American scholar Scott Stern retells the story of the person that was wrongly considered patient zero for HIV in the US, and draws a difference between contact tracing (an important public health tool) and naming and shaming fellow citizens. Many coronavirus patients need to go to the hospital – but the hospital itself is a hotbed of contagion In: New York Times (27 March)
The Chinese city of Wuhan, where the corona pandemic began, is no longer the epicentre of the global outbreak; that role has now been handed over to the Italian province of Bergamo. Official figures indicate that over 2,000 people have died of the virus in Bergamo. Hospitals are so full that patients are lying in the hallways and the weakened elderly can no longer be saved in many cases.
Italian doctors face an impossible dilemma: more and more patients need to go to the hospital to recover. But the more sick people are admitted to hospital, the greater the risk that healthcare workers, healthy relatives and funeral home staff will be infected too. It’s hard to get much closer to the patients and doctors – in the ambulance, in the hospital, in the cemetery – than through this in-depth report by the New York Times.
Why the virus might change society
The pandemic has far-reaching implications for every aspect of life. Some of these will disappear as soon as a vaccine has been developed; others will remain with us for years to come.
Finally, governments and companies realize caretaking is a job in itself In: The Nation (4 May)In this intimate essay that uses both words and pictures, photographer Alice Proujansky gives a first-person account of how it is to be a working parent in New York City in times of coronavirus. She shows her husband taking a work call in the bathroom, and her five-year-old daughter January crying on her first day without school.
This is not voyeuristic: it is a brutally honest insight look in the life of freelance parents in a country where caretaking work is left to individuals and not considered a state’s business. (It is also a cute reflection on children’s quirks. My favourite: the note that Proujansky’s son writes stating that everyone should be free to poop where they want.) Ultimately, pandemics are a result of human consumption patterns In: Ensia (1 May)
From malaria to coronavirus, the diseases that plague humankind cannot be viewed separately from our choices as consumers. Capturing wild animals is related to logging for the timber trade and deforestation to clear farmland, all to supply the international markets.
The same applies to other diseases that jump to humans as a result of eating meat from wild animals, like Ebola. Low-wage countries pay a high price for their exports of coffee and other crops from deforested regions. The cost: an estimated 20 percent rise in the risk of malaria. The pandemic literally changes our view on cities In: The Atlantic (24 April)
No traffic, plenty of parking, and cheap petrol. And we can finally see what cars have done to a city like New York. Tom Vanderbilt, who authored a (fantastic) book called Traffic, discusses an art project called the "social distancing machine": shaped like a hula hoop and inspired by an Austrian “Gehzeug”, it’s designed to protect your personal space.
And that brings us to the passenger car as a social distancing machine, and what kind of city you end up with if you primarily design it for cars. In a country of 1.3 billion, space isn’t just scarce – it’s taboo. Try squaring that with a pandemic In: The Correspondent (8 April)
The World Health Organization (WHO) has called upon my home country of India to lead the battle against the coronavirus, because we’ve had great success in eradicating other deadly diseases. But in the face of a virus that demands space and distance, India is simply too big, too close, and too crowded.
Everything here exists in very close proximity – we’re used to "community first, individuals second". But now, the individual is getting squeezed out more than ever as the needs of the community take centre stage. Migrant workers are forced to walk hundreds of kilometres home as public transport shuts down. Young adults live in close proximity to three generations of family.
Communities are turning on individuals, using stigma in the name of the collective good. In this pandemic, community is our biggest strength, but it’s also our biggest vulnerability.
How we can get through this crisis together
Individually, we have to keep as much distance from each other as possible to avoid spreading the virus. But the coronavirus pandemic is a crisis we have to live through together. Here’s how.
Brief biographies of the 100,000 US coronavirus deaths In: New York Times (27 May)In the US, more than 100,000 people have died of coronavirus – over 1,100 every day, on average, since the beginning of the outbreak. That is almost a third of all casualties worldwide. And not just senior citizens; twenty-somethings have lost their lives to it, too. The New York Times paid tribute to many victims, using obituaries from local newspapers all over the country.
A Vietnam veteran. A coach of several successful women’s basketball teams. The writer of the song “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll”. A rocket engineer. One of the firefighters who did their duty on 9/11. The producer of Knight Rider. A volunteer for animal welfare organisations. The first black woman to graduate from Harvard Law School. A furniture repairman. A karate instructor. The owner of a pizzeria branch. The founder of PBS.
The newspaper honours the victims chronologically, with a counter that goes up continuously. April 5: 10,000 deaths. April 10: 10,000. April 24: 50,000. And now, the country has passed the bitter milestone of 100,000 coronavirus casualties. How baking bread unites the internet in times of coronavirus In: The Correspondent (25 May)
We can no longer break bread together, but bread photos have been everywhere since the pandemic started. Two months ago, when I lost my job and food shortages started hitting the US, I became obsessed with the idea of feeding my family.
You can do that too, with just flour and water. But baking bread is much more than that: it gives contour to shapeless days – and, more importantly, the pictures we share online provide a community, one that reminds us we’re all in this together. A guide for parents of toddlers and babies who need to stay home In: Quartz (6 April)
For parents of babies and toddlers, staying at home can become a source of extra tensions and give rise to many questions. Will the little ones be traumatised if they don’t go out? What can they do during the day?
In this guide for Quartz, Annabelle Timsit draws on her expertise writing about early childhood, to give some sound bits of advice as well as some practical tips. The bottom line: as long as you love your child, they will be fine. And if you need a screen as help (though the advice is to avoid them before the child turns two), here are some good recommendations on how to use your screen time purposefully. Coronavirus turned into music In: Science (3 April)
If you didn’t know what you were listening to, this odd musical composition might appear quite harmonious and actually relaxing. It must be the sound of the Japanese koto (a string instrument) that gives the melody a calming touch of something you would hear in the background in a spa.
But don’t be fooled: the sounds are an audio representation of the spikelike protein that forms Covid-19. This new format can help scientists visualise the virus differently – and it makes for an eerie reflection on life and death to less scientific ears. From Namibia to New Zealand: here’s how ordinary people are living in a pandemic In: Politiken (2 April)
Between hard-working ICU doctors, hesitant policy-makers and dismissive presidents, average citizens are rarely considered newsworthy. Danish newspaper Politiken had a different perspective, asking people from all over the world to send in their thoughts, fears and messages of hope and inspiration. The result was a wonderful overview of normal people amidst our ‘new normal’.
An Indian freelancer turned down a lucrative documentary project, because it required him to film footage in the quarantine wing of a hospital. A Hungarian lady appreciates how Budapest, the country’s capital, reserves three hours a day for older customers in its shops. A woman from Namibia is focusing on the beauty of birds and insects for the first time in her life. A Peruvian health manager misses getting hugs from his family when he comes home after a long shift surrounded by Covid-19 patients.
Everyone has their own way of navigating this crisis. These stories show that no matter where we are, anywhere around the globe, we are never alone. How the surgical face mask has become a symbol of our times In: New York Times (17 March)
"If there is a symbol of the current confusion, fear, misinformation and anxiety generated by the spread of the new coronavirus, it is the surgical face mask," writes New York Times fashion editor Vanessa Friedman.
Face masks – the mouth-and-nose-covering kind – were created in the mid-1890s and used as a protective measure by doctors during surgery to prevent airborne bacteria from entering an open wound. During the outbreak of the Spanish Flu, they became a global phenomenon. The use of the masks slowly disappeared after the first world war, except in China, where masks symbolised civic awareness.
Since the turn of the century, the masks have taken a different role: in cities such as Mumbai, Shanghai and Beijing, they were used to protect against air pollution. Now the mask has become the coronavirus’s avatar, a shorthand for our inability to protect ourselves, our desire to hide, and to appear to take action. But wearing a mask nowadays can also be seen as spreading misinformation because it doesn’t necessarily work as a barrier for healthy people. How we can defeat coronavirus together by being alone In: Washington Post (14 March)
Social distancing (reducing or avoiding social contact) is a very effective way of slowing the spread of the coronavirus. Distancing is especially effective if it is maintained for some time, and if it is accompanied by government measures such as closing down cafes, restaurants and other gathering points.
It reminds us how important our individual behaviour can be: if more of us stay at home and avoid crowds for a while, we can work together to make sure that fewer people get infected, hospitals are not overloaded, and more people recover as others get sick. Don’t forget: disasters and crises bring out the best in people In: The Correspondent (13 March)
Images in the news show people fighting over the last pack of toilet paper on the supermarket shelf – but those semi-comical conflicts are only part of the picture in a major crisis situation. The vast majority of people help one another in times of war, sickness and natural disaster.
Quarantined Italians sing together from their balconies to boost the sense of community; spontaneous groups pop up on social media encouraging people to check in on older neighbours who may be feeling isolated and offer to do their grocery shopping. Scientific research confirms that this sense of solidarity is the rule rather than the exception.
The University of Delaware’s Disaster Research Center has done almost 700 field studies on floods and earthquakes over the past 60 years, consistently showing that nearly everyone stays calm and helps each other in times of crisis.
Guide
Coronavirus in context
The coronavirus pandemic will have far-reaching and long-lasting consequences. We want to help you understand developments around the world by providing context for the news in a carefully considered, factual and constructive way. This guide gives you the most important insights to help you understand the coronavirus pandemic.