Death rates vastly different in more affluent areas

[Rainycloudyday]

Sorry if there has already been a thread on this. News today shows the shocking difference in death rates in more and less affluent areas. I’m not at all surprised sadly. On here I’m always surprised when people talk of knowing multiple people who have died. I live in a reasonably comfortable middle class area I suppose, and am from that background, and (touch wood) don’t personally know anyone who has passed away or been in hospital from Covid. For people who have lost several people around them, friends, neighbours etc. are you in more or less affluent areas?

Boris Johnson is reasonably affluent. It didn't pass him by. Many of the elderly residents of care homes who have died will have been from middle class backgrounds. Several well-educated, well-paid doctors have died from it.
If it turns out that lack of vitamin D is indeed one of the main reasons for severe cases, then that deficiency will be due to several reasons. Not just poverty.

Johnson exposed himself to it with hand shaking and bravado. Age trumps virtually everything in c19 outcomes. Most of the doctors who have died are from BAME groups which also predisposes poor outcomes.

Health inequality has long been linked with poverty and deprivation. Common sense and logic make it obvious C19 would follow the same trajectory.

It didn't pass him by

But nor did he die of it, despite being overweight, male and heading towards the more at risk age group. Others with those risk factors who are not affluent have been dying.

He obviously waved £50 notes at it! Makes a change from burning them in front of homeless people, I suppose.

I'm very lucky not to have lost anyone to Covid (touch wood). But I live in a poor area and neighbours are losing people .
It's not surprising.
Given the population density: everything you touch outside the house has been touched multiple times by multiple people.
Plus as pp have said: many of those people are continuing to work as delivery drivers, in warehouses, supermarkets, takeaways, care homes. All sorts of essential services that may or may not be enforcing social distancing.
If I let my kids out to play: I put them into a bath and wash all their clothes as soon as we get in. It's a worry.
Increadbly some social landlords have decided that cleaning communal areas is "non essential" and suspended it entirely. If you find this as concerning: there's a petition you can sign here

He obviously waved £50 notes at it! Makes a change from burning them in front of homeless people.

"Boris Johnson vehemently denies claim by Labour MP that he burned £50 note in front of homeless people."

www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/boris-johnson-vehemently-denies-claim-by-labour-mp-that-he-burned-50-note-in-front-of-homeless-a4246736.html

The Labour MP involved;

"In June 2014, [Helen] Goodman was invited to give a speech at the opening of a village fayre at Ingleton, County Durham, in the parliamentary constituency which she had represented for nine years."

^"During her speech, she praised the village for the beauty of its waterfalls and caves and for its connection with the author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. None of these features applied to the County Durham village, but were, in fact, references to the village of Ingleton, situated seventy miles away in North Yorkshire.""

Well he’s hardly going to own up to it @Clarinova. It seems to have been initiation rite for Bullingdon Club members so I guess he’s not the only one to do it.

Labour MPs have a habit of repeating unfounded twitter gossip in the House of Commons.

Much like Tory MPs lying every time they open their mouths.

I live in a fairly deprived area of the North East (Sunderland) and the death rates coming from our hospital are higher than even our close neighbouring hospitals. It makes me incredibly sad because not everyone who lives in these areas fit the stereotype that I think most people have (and even those that do deserve the same chance at fighting this virus as anyone else) but its disheartening to say the least. And obviously living in a deprived area means its more difficult to up and move so little I can do to change my situation.

I keep hearing about how this virus is 'a great leveller' but its not is it? Not really. Nothing ever is

Just checked - apparently it was claimed in an Oxford student newspaper that the burning of £50 notes was an initiation rite for new members in 2013 - so 26 years after Boris Johnson left Oxford.

RedToothBrush in this city the police and community workers are speaking to, and delivering information in the language used by the people who appear most reluctant to social distance. Unfortunately, they are stigmatised wherever they live. The UK have offered opportunities for education and housing they don't get in other parts of Europe. If they genuinely wish to live peaceable within the settled community then now is the time for them to stop socialising in large numbers in the streets.

I live in a fairly deprived area of the North East (Sunderland) and the death rates coming from our hospital are higher than even our close neighbouring hospitals.

Unfortunately I spotted this today on the BBC website:

12:39 1 May
"Legal action taken against tenants who flouted lockdown measures. A Sunderland housing group has issued more than 60 warnings to tenants who have breached government rules over social gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic."

"Gentoo...has taken court action against one tenant and said further legal action would be taken against those who “persistently” break the rules."

@Clavinova Yes I noticed that too. Thankfully I live in one of the better (?) parts of Sunderland and people here are being respectful of the rules but in other areas not so much. Its incredibly frustrating as it puts all of us at risk

I live in a slightly poor area (council estate, really rough, lots deprived families and we travel (in normal life) to a much better off area for school. The only positive cases I know of are at the school - I (touchwood) don't know of any deaths (and I pray that it stays that way 😪)

Just checked - apparently it was claimed in an Oxford student newspaper that the burning of £50 notes was an initiation rite for new members in 2013 - so 26 years after Boris Johnson left Oxford

Did it say how long it had been an initiation rite? Because, if not, that’s meaningless.

Alsohuman
Did it say how long it had been an initiation rite? Because, if not, that’s meaningless.

No, but I've just found this from 2017;

"The most damaging recent allegation claimed that a club member burned a £50 note in front of a tramp.“Can you make clear that this isn’t true…that kind of thing would never happen,” one recent member tells me. While the Bullingdon members have an obvious reason to want to clear their names, I couldn’t find any evidence that this ever took place, and the original article on the Huffington Post has since been retracted and replaced with a note saying it was an “unfounded allegation.”

Likewise, Labour MP Paula Sherriff accused Boris Johnson of using the word 'traitor' last year - he didn't - I heard LBC presenter James O'Brien retract that word on air - probably advised to do so by LBC lawyers.

Labour MPs make a lot of noise about Boris Johnson's 'lies' - when they are quite guilty of making things up themselves.

@BeforeIPutOnMyMakeup Council/social housing started to get smaller decades before 1980

John Boughton talks about all this in his Municipal Dreams book.

Can i have the full link for that please @Clavinova

Heres the WHOLE section.

Legal action taken against tenants who flouted lockdown measures
A Sunderland housing group has issued more than 60 warnings to tenants who have breached government rules over social gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic.

Gentoo, which manages homes for more than 60,000 people in the city, said it would “not tolerate” breaches of social distancing guidelines.

It has taken court action against one tenant and said further legal action would be taken against those who “persistently” break the rules.

Nigel Wilson, Chief Executive Office for Gentoo Group said: “Our number one priority is always the safety and welfare of our tenants, residents and employees, and that’s never been more important than now.

“However, we are aware of a small number of tenants who continue to not follow the rules and put the welfare of their family and those around them at risk, which we will not tolerate.

“Working with Northumbria Police, we will continue to actively challenge these tenants and seek to reprimand anyone found to be not following social distancing principles.”

A spokesman for the force said: “From the outset we have been clear that we would take the necessary steps to enforce the lockdown rules in order to protect our communities.

“We would urge everyone to continue to follow the restrictions which are in place to ultimately save lives.

However, we are aware of a small number of tenants who continue to not follow the rules

Not as many as gathered on Westminster Bridge the last few Thursdays i will make a bet.

Most social housing is definitely more spacious than the sort of private rentals the poorest live in. In extremely deprived areas like Newham many of the poor are in very bad quality private rented, in a state of absolute disrepair (often illegally so) including lots of shared housing. People, including families, living in one room. The shortage of social housing is most acute in London. Many of those most affected by Covid will be living in these cramped conditions. But yes overcrowding also exists in social housing and they too are suffering more from Covid, at least those in the deprived areas most hard hit by the virus.

HeIenaDove

The article says that 60 warnings have been issued - not how many other people were at the properties. Were the tenants holding late night parties? The housing group can only issue warnings to named tenants - not the other random people visiting.

I feel disquieted reading this thread. I'm in the category discussed of poorer families at higher risk of Covid - and many of the risk factors mentioned on this thread apply to us - living in a tower block, sharing a lift with 60 other families, no car so we shop several times a week, no garden so take kids out daily to run around, DH still going to work as in a low paid care sector job, no car so using public transport to get there, and as for the idea of a second bathroom to help with self isolation.....

But the thing is, I don't like being a category discussed on MN, because what are you actually going to do about it? I'm glad peoples eyes are open to the issue, but what are you prepared to do to actually lessen the injustice and create a more balanced society? Eg if you are on this thread and you own a second property which you rent out to pay the mortgage on your bigger property and so will eventually retire owning two properties- will you consider giving one property away to a family who is stuck spending huge amounts on private rent each month and can't get into the property ladder? It's a serious question- what would you be prepared to do personally to balance the scales more fairly?

Well they should have held it at Westminster Bridge on Thursday night.

If rules were broken then fair enough But you cant have one rule for one and another rule for another.

Especially when the rules only seem to be being upheld for the group in society that didnt bring the virus in in the first place.