LONDON (AP) – Taxi driver Gary Nerden meets colleagues who suffered from severe COVID-19 disease. Get to know the area of East London where you live and work among the highest infection rates in all of England. But since he can’t afford not to work, he drives off looking for strangers for up to 12 hours a day, relying on a faint plastic screen to keep him safe.
“I have people telling me they won’t wear a mask, saying they’re exempt,” Nerden, 57, said. “I have diabetes, I have to take care of myself. I clean the handles and seat belt after each client, but that’s all I can do, really.”
Nerden and his wife, a hospital administrative worker, live outside London’s Redbridge district, which in mid-January had the second highest rate of residents in the country tested positive for the coronavirus: 1,571 cases per 100,000 people. Official figures estimated that at one point, 1 in 15 people had COVID-19, even after the government imposed a third national blockade to control a variant of the virus that spreads most quickly.
Redbridge and its surrounding areas, located in a suburban belt between the north-east of the capital and coastal Essex, have been nicknamed the “COVID Triangle” because they all surpassed England’s worst infection rates in the last few weeks. Although case rates have dropped significantly, local leaders said the situation remained critical and the district was still “in the eye of the storm.”
They say the large number of essential workers in the area in public jobs, combined with dense housing and high levels of poverty, contribute to the virus having affected it much more than most places in the UK. These factors also make the fight against the pandemic particularly particular. challenging.
“We have some of the front-line workers here in the community: taxi drivers, NHS (National Health Service) workers, train drivers going to central London, commuter workers, cleaners,” the leader said. of Redbridge Council, Jas Athwal. dit.
“People take risks: is it about feeding my children or taking risks with COVID? And, of course, they need to feed their children, ”Athwal added. “All of this explains the excess of virus infections, the deaths, because people have to go out and do their jobs.”
Many of these lower-income workers with high exposure to the virus are from ethnic minority backgrounds, who are among the most at risk, as well as the hardest to convince to get vaccinated. The population of Redbridge is one of the most diverse in the country, with large Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities and less than 40% of residents who identify as white British.
Numerous studies have shown that the pandemic is causing disproportionately serious diseases and deaths among ethnic minorities and those in poorer households. In the UK, Public Health England found that after taking into account factors such as age and sex, people of Bangladeshi heritage died for COVID-19 at twice the rate of white British. Blacks and other Asian groups also had a 10% to 50% higher risk of death.
Experts say this is due to a combination of factors. People from minority groups are more likely to live in crowded homes and take poorly ventilated public transportation to go to work. They are also more likely to have long-term conditions, such as heart disease and diabetes, that increase their risk of serious illness if they detect the virus.
Khayer Chowdhury, a Bangladeshi-born councilor from Redbridge, said many Asian households in the district are multigenerational families living together under one roof, giving the virus a greater chance of spreading.
“Our diversity makes us unique, but it also makes us vulnerable,” he said.
Britain has lost more than 100,000 lives due to the coronavirus, the worst death toll in Europe.
“Here in the community, everyone knows someone who has died,” Athwal said. “Fear is finally starting to come home.”
Officials say a small but growing number of people are breaching the restrictions, in part because of fatigue with blocking rules. Police officers have broken up meetings and “car meetings,” closing and fining clubs and restaurants for organizing parties. In the last days of the week, a large team of police officers patrolled the main shopping street, which boiled with a steady stream of people despite the government’s message to “stay home”.
But the biggest challenge is vaccination. Several UK-based studies have suggested that vaccine uptake rates for both coronavirus and other outbreaks among blacks and minorities are significantly lower than those of the general population. Some researchers say this is caused by mistrust of the authorities and the long-standing disengagement of public health messages, and that it is exacerbated by anti-vaccine posts on social media.
Local resident Salman Khan and his wife said they were unsure they would be stabbed if offered, because the pandemic has made them question “whether the government and the news are telling the truth.”
Dr. Anil Mehta, a local doctor, said health officials are making every effort to reach the poorest and hardest to reach communities. This week offers shelters for homeless people, in hopes of inoculating many refugees in the area and those who sleep poorly. He said he also took on the role of “myth trampoline,” trying to dispel misinformation and conspiracy theories.
“People believe in all sorts of things: this affects fertility or against black life,” Mehta said. “There is a lot of hesitation, whether they want it or trust us. This is our battle right now. “
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