SOC
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a series of confusion and fear in the society as many people continue to succumb to this deadly virus. At the same time, social distancing, wearing masks, staying at home, and sanitization have become the new normal as the governments have put these policies in place to curb the spread of COVID-19 virus. Nevertheless, intersectionality has found itself embedded in the global COVID-19 crisis as several people are said to be worst affected by the deadly COVID-19 virus as compared to others. There are arrays of social inequalities that have further worsened the existing conditions; therefore, the minority groups or the disadvantaged groups are being affected by the COVID-19 in the worst way.
First of all, the intersectionality (chapter 6) of the class is making other people perceived to be in the lower social class to suffer more than the others in this difficult period of the COVID 19 pandemic. Unfortunately for this, people in the lower social class are characterized by low income; therefore, accessing fundamental resources like water and medication is hard (“The Impact Of COVID-19 Is All Down To Inequality”). For instance, the government has put in place a policy stipulating that people should be regularly washing their hands with running water and so to prevent spreading or contracting the COVID-19 virus. Nevertheless, these people at the lower social class are unable to access this clean running water; therefore, they are at a higher risk of contracting and spreading the COVID 19 disease. Moreover, when it comes to medication, the inequality sprouted by the intersectionality of class also affects some people (“The Impact Of COVID-19 Is All Down To Inequality”). These people occupying the lower social class usually do not have access to proper medication; thus, they have lower chances of survival during this COVID-19 pandemic.
Poverty (chapter 4) is another primary factor that has affected a majority of the citizens during these difficult times of the COVID-19 virus. Poverty portends a state where there is a lack of resources, and many people have been affected even in the United States of America. Unfortunately, one billion persons live in absolute poverty, where there is a complete life-threatening deprivation of resources (Nehring and Kerrigan). Thus many of these people usually live in poor conditions where social distancing cannot be adhered to because there is usually congestion in the houses. Thus they are the most affected by the COVID-19 virus because of their poor living conditions. These people are also unable to purchase the required materials like face masks and sanitizers because they lack the resources to purchase.
Furthermore, through immigration (chapter 5), several people have found themselves worst affected during this pandemic. The majority of the immigrants into the United States are the Mexicans who find themselves in the country through illegal means. These immigrants usually have no path to permanent status, thus remain to be second class citizens (Nehring and Kerrigan). These people usually live in congested communities where they are forced to share basic facilities and amenities; therefore, with the spread of the COVID-19 virus, they have been hit hard as they are unable to maintain the social distancing.
Race and ethnicity have been a controversial topic of debate in the United States. The white privilege usually enables the whites in the U.S to enjoy some benefits which are deprived of the blacks and other races in the United States. Therefore the majority of the blacks have lost their lives in the U.S during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the cases are still coming in. The majority of these blacks are discriminated against, and they live in neighborhoods that are congested and have inadequate fundamental facilities; hence the majority of them become victims during this COVID-19 pandemic.
Works Cited
“The Impact Of COVID-19 Is All Down To Inequality”. Opendemocracy, 2020, https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/impact-covid-19-all-down-inequality/.
2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DW4HLgYPlA&feature=youtu.be】 – https://www.ted.com/talks/kimberle_crenshaw_the_urgency_of_intersectionality?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare】. Accessed 13 June 2020.
Nehring, Daniel, and Dylan Kerrigan. Imagining Society.