Class, inequality and the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

Research by the Office of National Statistics into COVID-19-related deaths in the UK up to April 2020 provides clear evidence that working-class people in the most deprived areas of England and Wales are the most likely to die after contracting the virus. We know that COVID-19 is both virulent and highly contagious, the key factor in its global spread, our collective susceptibility and the reason why isolation and lockdowns are so important. We also know that, from a very timely report by the World Health Organization, global healthcare provision was almost completely unprepared to deal with the pandemic, despite it being known that such an occurrence was highly likely. The WHO's Strategic Preparedness and Response plan, initially published weeks before the pandemic was declared and later updated, outlined how poorly equipped global healthcare services were. Experiences have illustrated this, with too few beds, staff and equipment a universal phenomenon. This chapter focuses on the question of vulnerability of specific population cohorts, to develop an analysis of what it is that makes them so. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)