As lockdowns ease, who will be safe from coronavirus? And will the risk of exposure fall along the lines of rich and poor? Economists at the University of Oxford found a direct correlation between the pay and physical proximity at work. If you are higher paid at the job, you will come into physical contact with the fewer people and if you’re paid more you are also more likely to be able to work from home. Yet there are big differences between countries on this. Only 5% of people in a country like Mozambique can work from home, in Turkey and Mexico it’s 25% and in the UK or Sweden, it’s 40%. People of lesser means are more likely to use public transport. Those who can afford it can use private cars or taxis, exposing them into a smaller number of people, their drivers are still exposed. Data from the UK governments have shown that taxi and cab drivers had a much higher death rate than the average. The poorer you are the more likely you will be to live close to other people, where multiple generations share one home and the risk of passing the virus to older people is higher. Asthma, diabetes and heart conditions are all risk factors for Covid-19 and poverty is linked to these underlying health problems. In some developing countries that have been badly hit by Covid-19, like India, Brazil, and Mexico, those who are dying seem to be younger. The places where healthcare is really lacking, the rich and powerful can choose to go abroad.
Maryam Khan, Islamabad
