CoVid-19 Versus Inequality

There is a silent injustice to the dignity of people when it comes to economic inequality. Those living on incomes in the lower quintiles are more likely to caught CoVid-19 and to die from it, as reported by Maxx Fisher and Emma Bubola published first in Sunday's New York Times.

"As the coronavirus [CoVid-19] spreads across the globe, it appears to be setting off a devastating feedback loop with another of the gravest forces of our time: economic inequality.

"In societies where the virus hits, it is deepening the consequences of inequality, pushing many of the burdens onto the losers of today’s polarized economies and labor markets. Research suggests that those in lower economic strata are likelier to catch the disease...Research on influenza has found that in an epidemic, poverty and inequality can exacerbate rates of transmission and mortality for everyone."

My wife attended Sunday services. The church's pastor had implemented a series of requests to ensure social distancing without interfering with the intent of the service. During his homily, however, he mentioned nothing about kindness and generosity to others during this time of crisis. When I went to the store a few hours later, the hoarding of neighbors and fellow citizens stripped the shelves bare. I wasn't looking for a 24 roll package of toilet paper or a month's supply of frozen pizza [starvation sounds better]. I just want four rolls of TP.

Moments such as these depress me. It's not the virus. It's us. I wonder if we are worse than the disease.

We look out for ourselves, but the philosophy of self-preservation serves only the wealthiest with the best results. In the Atlantic Monthly magazine, Adam Harris notes that from March 6 to March 12, the state of Alabama conducted only 12 tests, while"the Utah Jazz consumed 20 percent of ...[Oklahoma's] entire stock of test kits [after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for CoVic-19 at an Oklahoma City Thunder game]"

"For a professional sports organization to receive so many tests—which are being rationed across the country—in such short order is a jarring disparity, but it’s not unexpected. When I spoke with Wendell Potter, a former communications director at the insurance giant Cigna, on Thursday, he had a succinct explanation: The health-care system in the United States is built for the elite."

While I am glad most players on the Jazz and the Thunder were CoViD-19 negative, why are they more deserving on care than tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of Americans who must wait to be tested?

After CoViD-19 runs its course, individuals with the fewest economic resources will have suffered the most. Where's the dignity in that?