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Who Ignores Best-Practice For Coronavirus?

When it comes to preventing the spread of coronavirus, which of the following pairs do you think are most likely to ignore the bio-security advice of the World Health Organization and the government, to fail to admit to themselves that they have the symptoms of the virus and to fail to seek proper timely medical assistance? Would it be those who think we should trust the science (even if patchy), or those who think giving money to Buddhist monks will bring them good fortune? Would it be believers in the germ theory of disease, or believers in the Gaia theory of disease? Those putting trust in physical barriers, or those putting trust in the power of prayer? Those who think that social distancing will protect them, or those who think God will protect them? Those who think a vaccine would help, or those who think reiki will help? Masters students in Respiratory Care, or Masters students in Wellness Training?

I claim that in each case the first group will be more prudent than the second. No, I am not saying that everyone on the rationalist side will follow best practice, nor that everyone in the woo-woo camp will fail to. Just that overall there will be a significant difference. And if I'm right, then you'd expect differential death rates.

The Institute of Fiscal Studies and others have looked at age and geographical factors to predict the coronavirus deaths in BAME people and compared that with actual hospital deaths. The conclusion is stark: there is a disproportionate impact on BAME communities. I don't think anyone is disputing this. As is being widely claimed, systemic injustices in many aspects of British society are likely a factor.

Now I'm going to word this very carefully, because I don't want any misunderstanding. It occurred to me that BAME communities may well be disproportionately in those second groups. I checked the 2011 census data published by the Office for National Statistics for the proportion of people not reporting a religion, and my suspicion is justified. For White British it is 35%. For all others it is 21%. For sub-continental British Asians it is 7%. For Black British it is 15%, and for Black British Africans specifically, it is 9%.

Obviously, the only way to test my suggestion properly would be to know the beliefs of the victims and those around them, which might not be easy. A starting point would be to identify their religious beliefs. I don't know if this information is already collected, but if so, you could see why the government is refusing to publish the reasons found for the impact on the BAME communities. If it is a factor, it would inflame racial tensions, and racists would use the information to blame the communities themselves for their plight. What we should be doing is encouraging everyone to take a more rational approach to things and ditch the cultural nonsense. As I've said before, the starting point should be banning religious indoctrination of minors. It's child abuse.

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