Read on Twitter
Growing discussion about the differential impacts of the pandemic. In the US, I& #39;m hearing about 4 levels:
1 - The owning class are retreating into their (summer) homes, w everything they want on hand or delivered. They& #39;ll fret over their stocks but their chance of getting sick is low and they& #39;ll have the best care if they do, so won& #39;t suffer much. https://www.axios.com/coronavirus-rich-drawbridges-7567f493-1bed-494e-926c-be897823a706.html">https://www.axios.com/coronavir...
2 - The professional class (top ~10%) are working from home, getting goods delivered or going out sparingly. My family& #39;s in this group. Having a kid means struggling to balance without the childcare we& #39;ve relied on. Our incomes will dip. But on the whole, we& #39;ll be okay.
3 - The working poor (75%?) will be out of work and/or face COVID risk from keeping the economy running through the crisis. Neither is a great outcome. If they get sick, they& #39;re facing a double crisis of being out of work plus medical bills. https://twitter.com/jiejennyzou/status/1246287175840411648">https://twitter.com/jiejennyz...
4 - Lastly, the poorest, homeless, and incarcerated (15%?) will be hit hardest. When you don& #39;t have access to good housing or services, or when you& #39;re locked in an institutional setting, the disease risks go up dramatically—as does the impact of strained public service budgets.
You could split it in a more nuanced way, but typically what I& #39;m seeing/hearing is less distinction—eg #2 being lumped in with either #1 or #3, and #4 being forgotten entirely. That& #39;s not only unhelpful from a policy perspective, it& #39;s immoral.
Worth noting that similar splits exist in other countries, but with different impacts and proportions (eg greater safety net for #3 and 4 in European social democracies).
We need near-term policies to blunt the impacts, and long-term policies to shift the proportions.
We need near-term policies to blunt the impacts, and long-term policies to shift the proportions.
Was just coming back to add this point: the racial dimension across 1-4 means a racial dimension to the pandemic’s impact.
https://twitter.com/msrlocke/status/1246521405040033792?s=21">https://twitter.com/msrlocke/... https://twitter.com/msrlocke/status/1246521405040033792">https://twitter.com/msrlocke/...
https://twitter.com/msrlocke/status/1246521405040033792?s=21">https://twitter.com/msrlocke/... https://twitter.com/msrlocke/status/1246521405040033792">https://twitter.com/msrlocke/...
