In mid-July I went out to buy spices in Harehills, which is full of good ethic shops of many kinds. The area is 40% Muslim, mostly of Pakistani heritage, but with a significant minority born in EU Accession countries (since 2001). These figures come from 2011 census data. Judging from the shops and some local knowledge, many of these Europeans are from Poland, Lithuania, and Romania. I hardly need mention the grip Islam has on its working-class believers, and Poland is the most Catholic country in Europe with 93% adherence. Romania has 85% adherence, and Lithuania 81%. These figures come from the Wikipedia articles on those countries, and the Religion in Europe article shows that 'religiosity', rather than just professed allegiance, is also high in Lithuania and extremely high in Poland and Romania. This all suggests that Harehills has a much higher than average population at risk of irrational imprudence towards health risks.
At the time of my shopping trip the advice was to wear face masks in public and to social distance. Most shops were already limiting admissions and insisting on face masks even though they weren't yet compulsory. Most were insisting on contactless payment. Many had arrangements in place to protect staff. Footfall in most shopping areas was well below normal. But Harehills was abuzz, as though Covid-19 didn't exist. I judged that on the streets only about 1% of people wore face masks. In the cash and carry I used, apart from me it was 0%. The staff were maskless, there were no shields, no obvious sanitizing points. There was no one-way system, no limits on customer numbers, little apparent adherence to social distancing, and everyone except me paid with cash.
In the first week of August it was revealed that there was a significant local cluster of increased Covid-19 in – yes, you guessed it – Harehills.
In mid-March Bangladesh had confirmed 14 people infected with Covid-19 and reported its first official death. The government closed schools and advised people to avoid gatherings of more than ten. Around 10,000 Muslims then packed together without any protection to pray healing verses from the Quran.
By mid-April over 400 people had died from the virus in Indonesia, the most affected country in SE Asia. Huge crowds of Muslims were pictured packed close together for Friday prayers, the majority without masks.
Brian Lee Hitchens and Erin Hitchens, a religious couple from Florida, caught Covid-19 in May and she died of it. A common form of Christian-based irrationality in America is rejection of science. Brian and Erin claimed at various times that the virus was a hoax, was related to 5G, was a mild condition like flu. They would have believed anything rather than the truth, despite Erin's existing health problems including asthma. Brian didn't social distance or wear a face mask when he continued to work as a taxi driver or when he collected his wife's medication. He endangered himself, his wife, all his customers, and everyone else he encountered. When the couple became ill with symptoms associated with Covid-19 they didn't seek help until it was too late for Erin, and she died on a ventilator. Erin was a pastor, and Brian claims that she is in a better place and hopes she will forgive him. FFS!
Hopefully, the current pandemic will end within a year or two and we will develop a vaccine. But what about the next one. Covid-19 attacks our bodies and kills. What if the next virus attacks our brains and causes people to believe irrational nonsense and teach it to their children? Wait a minute…