Interesting article about how all the doctors that have died so far in the UK are immigrants. Very sad and raises questions about 1) dependence of the nhs on immigrants 2) entrench racism within the nhs
That was a New York Times article.
I think that is more about American ways of thinking about things rather than purely what you think it does.
The US is having an issue with the number of black people affected. This is connected more with poverty and the type of blue collar jobs they have. And a lack of health care. In other words entrenched poverty that goes back to the slave era (I believe the poorest areas in the South correspond with the old plantations and these areas are amongst the worst for Covid-19. Wealthier African Americans are not having nearly as many problems). So yes it's racism but is also about how that creates poverty.
In the UK poverty and type of employment is also a big factor in how the virus is playing out - though in slightly different ways. Asian doctors are significantly over represented in the NHS workforce compared to the general population. That's an occupational hazard. That's one reason why we are noticing the number of deaths in this population.
I believe there is a genetic / cultural predisposition of diabetes in the British Pakistani population too (part down to diet). The large number of marriages to close relatives certainly won't help this problem.
The West Midlands is home to a lot of Asian families living in overcrowded accommodation. And there is the language barrier issue. So again poverty playing a significant role.
Generally poverty tends to mean you have poorer health and don't tend to get as good access to good health in this country. That owes a lot to class issues - and this affects both white and BAME communities. This is where you look at who are key workers and what their social status is.
Yes I do think racism does play a role in the UK. But I think that the situation is much more complex than that and we should definitely be looking at class and poverty far more in this country tbh.
As for NYC Ive just noticed this article
www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-ventilators-some-doctors-try-reduce-use-new-york-death-rate-2020-4?amp&r=US&IR=T&__twitter_impression=true
80% of NYC's coronavirus patients who are put on ventilators ultimately die, and some doctors are trying to stop using them
The experience in Europe and China has been that intervening too early with ventilators reduces the chances of survival. But in the insurance based US where health is for profit not for patients, there's more money to be made by going full on with intervention early on.
This may be part of the explanation of why the death rate there is higher than anywhere else.
Once again an insurance based system shows its flaws.