LONDON (AP) – Taxi driver Gary Nerden knows colleagues who have become seriously ill from COVID-19. He knows that the area of East London where he lives and works is among the highest infection rates in all of England. But because he can’t afford not to work, he drives around 12 hours a day picking up strangers, relying on a thin plastic screen to protect him.
“I have people tell me they won’t wear a mask and say they are exempt,” said Nerden, 57. “I have diabetes, I have to take care of myself. I wipe the handles, the seat belt, after each customer, but that’s basically all I can do. “
Nerden and his wife, an administrative assistant at the hospital, live in the London suburb of Redbridge, where in mid-January the country’s second-highest number of residents tested positive for the coronavirus: 1,571 cases per 100,000 people. According to official figures, 1 in 15 people there had COVID-19 – even after the government imposed a third national lockdown to combat a fast-spreading, more contagious variant of the virus.
Redbridge and the surrounding areas, which lie on a commuter belt between the north east of the capital and Essex on the coast, have been dubbed the “COVID Triangle” because they have all surpassed England’s highest infection rates in recent weeks. While the number of cases has fallen significantly, local leaders said the situation remained critical and the council was still “in the eye of the storm.”
They say the high number of essential workers in public jobs, coupled with dense housing and high levels of poverty, have helped the virus hit it much harder than most places in the UK. Those factors also make fighting the pandemic there particularly challenging.
“We have some of the most distinguished workers here in the community: the taxi drivers, the NHS (National Health Service) workers, the train drivers going into central London, the commuter workers, the cleaners,” Redbridge Council Leader Jas Athwal said.
“People are seizing opportunities – is it about feeding my kids, or risking myself with COVID? And of course they have to feed their children, ”added Athwal. “All of this explains the excess virus infections, the deaths, because people have to leave the house to do their job.”
Many of those low-income workers who are highly exposed to the virus are from ethnic minorities, which are among the most at risk – and also 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 Bengali communities and less than 40% of the residents identifying as white British.
Numerous studies have shown that the pandemic causes a disproportionate number of serious illnesses and deaths among ethnic minorities and poorer households. In the UK, Public Health found England that, after taking into account factors such as age and gender, people of Bengali descent died from COVID-19, twice as fast as white Britons. Black people 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 overcrowded homes and use poorly ventilated public transport to get to work. They are also more likely to have long-term conditions such as heart disease and diabetes that increase the risk of becoming seriously ill if they contract the virus.
Khayer Chowdhury, a Redbridge city councilor of Bengali descent, 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 to the coronavirus, the worst death toll in Europe.
“Here in the community everyone knows someone who has died,” Athwal said. “The fear is finally starting to strike.”
Officials say a small but increasing number of people are breaking through restrictions, in part due to fatigue with lockdown rules. Enforcement officers have broken up rallies and “car encounters”, closed clubs and restaurants and fined them for organizing parties. On a recent weekday, a large team of police officers patrolled the main shopping street, which was busy with a steady stream of people despite the government’s message that they are ‘staying at home.
But the bigger challenge is in the field of vaccination. Several studies based in the UK have suggested that the uptake of vaccines for both the coronavirus and other injections is significantly lower in black people and minorities than in the general population. Some researchers say this is caused by long-term distrust of authorities and withdrawal from public health posts, and exacerbated by anti-vaccination posts on social media.
Local resident Salman Khan and his wife said they were not sure they would get the shot if offered because the pandemic has made them doubt “whether the government and the news are telling the truth.”
Dr. Anil Mehta, a local physician, said health officials are committed to reaching out to the poorest and most difficult to reach communities. This week, he offers vaccination shots at homeless shelters, hoping to vaccinate the many refugees and those sleeping rough in the area. He said he has also taken on the role of ‘myth-buster’, in an effort to dispel misinformation and conspiracy theories.
“People believe in all kinds of things – this affects fertility, or Black Lives Matter,” said Mehta. “There is a lot of hesitation whether they want it or whether they trust us. That’s our battle right now. “
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