Higher mortality rates linked to poverty, Public Health England investigation finds
GMB, Britain’s general union, has spoken out following Public Health Eng-
land’s delayed publication of its investi-
gation into the discriminatory impact of
the coronavirus outbreak.
GMB represents tens of thousands of
workers in occupations that Public
Health England said today had the high-
est rates of excess deaths, including care,
nursing, security, and professional driv-
ing.
The review said that higher infection and
mortality rates in BAME communities
could be attributed to poor housing con-
ditions, lower incomes, occupations with
higher risk profiles, inadequate access to
public services, and a greater risk of un-
derlying health conditions.
Rehana Azam, GMB National
Secretary, said:
“Matt Hancock has lost valuable time
by commissioning a report on facts that
were already in the public domain.
“Either Black and Minority Ethnic lives
matter or they don’t, and Ministers have
lost valuable time in commissioning a
report that doesn’t set out how working
lives are to be protected.
“This report confirms what we already
knew – BAME workers have made a
disproportionate sacrifice during this
pandemic.
“In the context of global events, with
the spotlight on structural and institu-
tional racism, the publication of this re-
port which carries no recommendations
is just going to heighten distrust of the
claim that all lives matter to the govern-
ment.
“People are dying and Ministers have
been too slow to protect lives.
“They say that this virus doesn’t dis-
criminate, but the response to this virus
and the lives it has taken most definitely
experienced a discrimination that ended
in their deaths.
“No plan is in place that gives confi-
dence that the government is going to
protect lives of people disproportion-
ately impacted by this terrible disease.
That’s why GMB has joined the call for
an independent public inquiry into the
government’s response.”
