BAME DISCRIMINATION, A QUARANTINE PRISONER, AND HOW COVID HAS AFFECTED DISPROPORTIONALITY

London – Disproportionality, affects us all, especially the BAME community within education and the workplace. We become prisoners to our ethnic group and our experience. It is often suggested that BAME people are under-represented within society, but we can often overcome this by listening to other’s experiences and learning from them.

As usual, I woke up early in the morning to partake in yoga. It was a very quiet and lovely morning with falling of eachsnowflake. My day starts with reading an email before I begin the day. That day we received an email from NHS urging us to isolate for ten days. My husband came back home immediately after receiving the message from the NHS. He called his colleague from the barrack to isolate as they used to share a ride to work. This was my first pandemic experience. 

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I am socially active and work in multiple jobs. I believe this was the reason, I tested positive for the second time. I contacted the NHS like before, but didn’t receive the response from all that I was hoping for. I was told to stay at home. Part of me didn’t want to have to isolate myself again. I was worried about losing my job. I have had problems getting a job that matches my qualification. 

With my employment and lack of communication in the English language, I often like to follow up verbal conversations with emails, to make sure that I heard it right. I often request, “Could you drop me a few lines via email about our discussion on the phone?”

Due to the lack of staff, I heard from a few relatives and friends about how they were contacted during their isolation, to go back to work. A few friends of mine shared their experience in work where they were denied and had to argue for PPE and disposable gloves. 

Public Health England (2020) highlighted data of the Death rates from COVID-19 were higher for Black and Asian ethnic groups when compared to White ethnic groups. This is the opposite of what is seen in previous years when the all-cause mortality rates are lower in Asian and Black ethnic groups. Comparing to previous years, all-cause mortality was almost 4 times higher than expected among Black males for this period, and 2.4 times higher for females of the same background.

This shows racial discrimination in the BAME community in the UK. This could be the result of factors associated with occupation, population density, use of public transport, household composition, and housing conditions. The lack of PPE at work, and lack of English language, is also a factor within this. BAME individuals are disproportionately represented among NHS staff, and they are more likely to work lower down the ranks. This increases the risks they face; low pay and may choose to work longer hours. 

‘BAME individuals within the NHS are less likely to be promoted compared with their white counterpart’s (2015 NHS equality analysis). Over 18% of the doctors, nurses, porters, cleaners, transport, and catering staff who sustain the NHS in this time of crisis are from black and Asian backgrounds. In many cases with reportedly inadequate protective equipment make them more likely to be exposed to the virus as well. 

Finally, I am back at work. We need to understand to rebuild trust and reinforce messages on early identification, fully funded, sustained, and meaningful approaches to tackling ethnic inequalities. This must be prioritized. There must be a good representation of black and minority ethnic communities among staff at all levels; sustained workforce development and employment practices; with trust-building. All organizations, stakeholders, and agencies should consider underrepresented people at work. BAME people must speak up about these issues and raise concerns to move forwards positively together.