By Ashley Young-
Salford’s public health director today recklessly said Covid-19 is circulating among the Asian community, as she expressed her support for regional lockdowns to continue.
Dr Muna Abdel Aziz, (pictured)was addressing the health and social care scrutiny panel on Wednesday morning, where she made the reckless statement without proper consideration about its potential implications. She told councillors that the virus was spreading among Asians in the area, after stating that last month the virus was circulating among black and mixed race communities with black heritage.
Dr Aziz is believed to have been making the statement as an expression of concern about the effects the virus is having on Asians because of her connection with them as an Asian herself. The health director in the process opening up her race to the a stigma they would not really appreciate.
Asians make up approximately 5% s of the population in Salford, and are unlikely to be the only race hit with Covid-19.Requests for factual data about the current infections have been made to the Nhs in Salford.
Large Families
Asians often have large families that make social distancing less likely. Asians are also likely to have mixed in more numbers during the month of Ramadan which ended on May 23, 2 weeks after the lockdown was eased in the Uk. The highlighting of Asians as being at the centre of a coronavirus outbreak serves to create a paranoia of none Asians by many none Asians who hear statements like that made by Dr. Aziz.
Encouraging the idea of local lockdowns, she said: “Now, because we know it’s particular communities where the virus is circulating, that’s why it makes such sense to have the local restrictions on households in private gardens because that means that if someone has the virus and takes it into their household and it circulates within a household, it doesn’t take hold of the community because it isn’t passed on from one household to the next.
“How is it that people are contracting the virus? Many individuals will have got it when they’re out and about. Breaches of face coverings, social distancing, out in social settings, but we are trying to keep those social settings open.
“So we’re urging members of the public of all ethnicities, and key workers in particular, to be really sensible when they’re out and about, to wear face coverings where they are meant to and to socially distance because we don’t want people to take the virus back into their household and into their community.”
Her comments come as rules prohibiting people from meeting with members of different households indoors or in private gardens are in force across most of Greater Manchester. Although Wigan and Stockport have now been released from the regional restrictions, stringent rules continue in Bolton and Trafford, where rules were due to be relaxed this week, the restrictions will remain in place due to a recent spike in cases of Covid-19.
Socio Economic Factors
Researchers from the University of Glasgow highlighted that socio-economic factors as partly partly but not wholly responsible for ethnic differences in Covid-19. They highlighted deprivation and the lack of qualifications as being consistently associated with a higher risk of confirmed infection.
The researchers found that black people in England were at highest risk of having laboratory confirmed infection, more than three times more likely than white people. In June, BAME people, represented 15.5% of all deaths liked to Covid-19, but make up 3% of the Uk population. The percentage of those who have died of Covid-19 in the Uk still stands at 1%.
Higher Risk
South Asian groups were said to have a higher risk of testing positive, with Pakistani groups having the highest risk among them.
Although there were 36.3 coronaRecklesslyvirus cases per 100,000 people in the borough in the week ending August 29, up from 27.8 the previous week, there has not been a Covid-related death recorded in Salford since August
She said: “The virus has been circulating amongst young people who then take it back home.
“The virus has been circulating in healthy communities either because of their age or because they’re in work which means they are the healthy workforce.
“That explains why we haven’t seen the hospitalisations or the death we saw in the first wave.
“I think we’re in the foothills of the second wave now and it could go anywhere because if it takes hold of a vulnerable group, maybe in our care homes again or elsewhere a vulnerable group in the community, sadly we may see the very severe consequences.
“People needing to go into intensive care or sadly some deaths.
Transmitter
“We are saying to people, don’t think it’s mild because it hasn’t affected you enough to go into hospital.
“You’re just a transmitter, you’re just a carrier. The next person on from you, or the next person on from them, that happened because you didn’t stop it when it came to you.
“That’s why we’re saying remember you’re the carrier, you’re the transmitter and protect everyone else.”
Dr Aziz was contacted for comment.