BAME risk...It's not about ethnicity is it?

[MindTheRiskPlease]

Surely this whole "BAME" (nonsense term btw) people at risk of Covid is not about race ethnicity, is it?

If so, I don't see a great number of people being affected in "BAME" countries. Cases and Deaths are much much lower than that of the UK.

I live in a small town. Everyone is going about their business and following guidelines. Is 'the rona' coming to find me then because... "race" or is there more to it than that?

If two people (one "BAME", other not) come in contact with a covid patient, would the virus "choose" the BAME person and not the other? Wouldn't they both be at risk, depending on some factors? (What has ethnicity go to do with it?)

AIBU to think this whole "BAME people are more at risk" is a bit of a fallacious statement and has to be broken down to factors like geographical location, health, age, job, etc to actually be accurate?

A Filipino scientist did something similar, Filipinos living in the West seemed to get iller than those living in the Philippines...maybe due to getting less vitamin D (I give my boys vitamin D every day, although you are meant to anyway with under 5s so hopefully most young DC are getting it)

I have an Asian friend and she and her child take high dose vitamin D before this...she told me it is because darker skins take lots longer to absorb the same amount of vitamin D from the sun

So even in sunnier places it can still be an issue. And then look at the UK with our grey kind of weather. Doctors working in hospitals long shifts are not seeing the sun. Asian women in full coverings, do not have skin exposed to light and sun. Vitamin K is also meant to help with absorption too and has been linked to covid in low levels

I have not done masses of research either but a year or so ago I read that it may be best to get it from the sun if you can rather tahn just food and pills, although easier said than done in the UK other than on lovely sunny days like today.

Possibly but of course the other issue is skin cancer risk as well

There are lots of risks associated with insufficient exposure to the sun, many of which are only just starting to be understood.

I'd really be interested to know more about the vitamin D deficiency theory.

certain conditions are more common in south east asians including diabetes and heart disease
So the failure to shield the conditions with the highest amount of deaths, was that racism? It's known these are the conditions with the highest death rates and it's known south east asians are more likely to have these conditions (and at a younger age).

I think that the jobs done by people from BAME backgrounds and family size may be contributors. Especially multi-generational households and stronger family ties.

I agree and it is very complicated.

I think that the jobs done by people from BAME backgrounds and family size may be contributors. Especially multi-generational households and stronger family ties

I think this is a red herring as far as death rate is concerned.
Some of the people I know who have had it spread through their family are not in the customer facing roles and a lot had it at the start of lockdown

What I have noticed is that whilst a lot of my friends and their families have had it and it wasn’t a pleasant time they have all recovered but some who have had it spread through their families haven’t been so lucky and they seem to have lost a few family members to this disease.

I think there is a genetic connection somewhere. That it affects some families more than it does others.

People with diabetes and certain heart conditions were told to shield. My friend has type 2 diabetes and she was told to work from home a couple of weeks before lockdown.

Isn’t it largely down to economics here though? Eg Ghana, almost exclusively Black African and they’ve had less than 200 deaths. Of course, there could be a genetic link but when you look at outcomes specific to different countries all over, there are other issues that have also contributed to likelihood of outcome from having Covid-19.

@MissEliza

People with diabetes and certain heart conditions were told to shield. My friend has type 2 diabetes and she was told to work from home a couple of weeks before lockdown.

People with type 2 diabetes and heart disease were told to stringently social distance, not to shield.

@MissEliza

People with diabetes and certain heart conditions were told to shield. My friend has type 2 diabetes and she was told to work from home a couple of weeks before lockdown.

Despite the worldwide evidence showing cardiac conditions and diabetes were amongst the conditions with the highest mortality rates, these groups weren't afforded the protection of shielding. Their employers had to allow work from if possible but if it wasn't they could be forced in (which also means public transport for the non drivers). Lots of protections relied on official shielding status, i.e. HCP home visits, ability of tenants to refuse non essential access (inspections, non urgent repairs, etc), priority supermarket delivery slots.