😷⌛️📊Data shows that more than a century apart, the 1918 influenza pandemic and COVID-19 have revealed similar fault lines in #HamOnt — and that has advocates calling for change now and for any future pandemics. [1/11] 
https://twitter.com/TheAgenda/status/1377321764930355205
In a 2012, Ann Herring co-authored a paper (bit.ly/2QPogc9) which found people living in Hamilton’s poorer northern neighbourhoods were up to twice as likely as people in Hamilton’s wealthier southern neighbourhoods to die of influenza during the 1918 pandemic. [2/11]
This was based on death records at the time. Herring, a retired #McMaster anthropology professor, says “infectious diseases always flow along the fractures in society.” In 1918, poorer people were more likely to live in crowded housing, and to have to go to work. [3/11]
Sound familiar? According to an August 2020 report (bit.ly/3wfQvBb) from @SPRCHamOnt, neighbourhoods in the city “with higher concentrations of people living on low incomes and people who identify with a racialized group have higher rates of COVID-19.” [4/11]
While the relative positions of north and south shifted as #HamOnt expanded, the northern half of the city — particularly the core — still contains #HamOnt’s poorest wards, and the southern half encompasses its wealthiest, census data (bit.ly/3ugR4Jj) shows. [5/11]
This came as no surprise to Richard Harris, a professor in #McMaster's School of Earth, Environment, and Society: “In the simplest terms, it just shows that inequalities of income persist — that's not news.” [6/11]
.@UrbanHealthProf agrees, saying Hamilton remains a divided city. Income is tied to health and land markets sort people of similar socioeconomic status into similar areas, which is why investigations like the Spec's Code Red find health outcomes differ by neighbourhood. [7/11]
Dunn says two policy changes could make a big difference for vulnerable people: isolation housing and paid sick days to keep people at home and alone when they get ill. See the article for some of what Hamilton and the Ministry of Labour are doing in that regard. [8/11]
Governments have moved quickly to provide social support, Dunn says. He hopes that continues. (He has a more cynical take too, for which he cites an 1872 Engels essay. Essentially: the rich support the poor when their own health is at risk.) bit.ly/3dnupnF [9/11]
Looking ahead, Université du Québec à Montréal professor Magda Fahrni (who edited the book Herring's research appeared in) wonders what society will remember about this pandemic in 10 or 20 years. “Will it be the ‘all in it together’ message that prevails ... ?" she asks. [10/11]
"Or will we remember that some people — health-care workers, people of poorer neighbourhoods, the homeless — had a much tougher pandemic than others?”
Read the article here: tvo.org/article/inequa… [11/11]
Read the article here: tvo.org/article/inequa… [11/11]
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