Say what now! For the first time in human existence (or since records began), being poor has been proved to have benefits. Who would have thought it, eh? Now, with this rampant coronavirus tearing through our communities up and down the land, from the east to the west, from the north to the south, it seems that the people worst hit by Covid-19 are the rich. Yes, my friend. The rich! Well, the middle classes and what is more, it is the young white middle classes.
Well, I never! Infections are ramping up at double the rate among the under-35s who live in the country’s most wealthy areas compared to their counterparts who live in the poorest areas. This contrasts with initial evidence in the early stages of the pandemic, which showed that the worst affected districts were the poorer areas in cities that had a high proportion of ethnic minority victims. And listen to this: being wealthy enough to be able to holiday in far-flung exotic places is another downer. Holidaymakers returning from abroad (because they can afford it) are more likely to have tested positive, I guess after contracting the disease whilst gallivanting in foreign lands; that’s according to the Office for National Statistics.
But I have to say, just from my general observation around town, it does appear that it’s those at the lower end of the age scale that seem to forgo the wearing of the face covering and the observance of the two metre social distancing regulations. I could not, cannot, tell where they fall on the spectrum of the rich and poor divide. But what I can say is that they can’t all have asthma and they can’t all have respiratory and breathing problems. No, siree! They just can’t. Especially when they are moving around in groups. And laughing and joking and hugging one another. Whether they be rich, poor or fall slap bang in the middle of the wealth spectrum, the law should be taking a stronger stance with those young people who are flouting the law with gay abandon. Unless the government grows some backbone and deals with this as soon as, we in this country, the NHS and any other interested parties will be living in lockdown for years to come. We the compliant innocents, that is.
