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Why so many cases in Surrey?
Here's one BIG reason:
In Surrey, 18% of all households have 5 or more people.
Across BC that number is just 8%.
That's huge and a big reason why COVID-19 might spread faster through South Asian communities, through no fault of their own.
Here's one BIG reason:
In Surrey, 18% of all households have 5 or more people.
Across BC that number is just 8%.
That's huge and a big reason why COVID-19 might spread faster through South Asian communities, through no fault of their own.
We know household transmission is one of the biggest venues, but it's just kind of taken as granted that it's unavoidable.
And while much of it is unavoidable, probably, once one person gets infected, it's all the more important to protect those who live in such households.
And while much of it is unavoidable, probably, once one person gets infected, it's all the more important to protect those who live in such households.
Back to those numbers: if you were to look at the % of ppl who live in 5+person households in Surrey, compared to elsewhere, the disparity would likely be even starker (since each bigger household has more people).
Places w/ big households are always going to be WAY more at risk.
Places w/ big households are always going to be WAY more at risk.
Furthermore:
Across B.C. 2% of houses have more than one person per room.
In Surrey, 6% of homes have more occupants than rooms.
Across B.C. 2% of houses have more than one person per room.
In Surrey, 6% of homes have more occupants than rooms.
Holding all else steady, this dramatically increases the risk factor to households with more occupants - and particularly more adult occupants, and communities with more high-occupant households.
It's not a risk factor that can be ignored in planning communication strategies.
It's not a risk factor that can be ignored in planning communication strategies.
And ignoring these factors - which again, are no one's fault - because you don't want to talk about race does no one any favours. Silence leaves ignorant people to look at where the cases are and think it's a sign of non-compliance, when there is little to suggest that.
This is the danger: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/24/world/europe/italy-coronavirus-home-isolation.html
'The family acts as a multiplier, said Andrea Crisanti, the top scientific consultant on the virus in the Veneto region. “This is a ticking time bomb,” he said.'
Lacey challenged me on why this should be highlighted at this time. I tried to explain why I think it's valuable information (and why I think it's a counterpoint against - not more ammo for - xenophobes): https://twitter.com/LaceyLaceyp/status/1328423049289375744
And also, it would be good to get messages to people about how to reduce the risk of in-house transmission. And getting that message to people means meeting the people at greatest risk where they are, in the language(s) they are most comfortable in.
