Men, Women, Covid and Risk by Les May

A RECENT article on the BBC news website was headed; ‘Covid: Teachers "not at higher risk" of death than average’. But buried within it was a more interesting take on who in the working age population, that’s 20 to 64 year olds, are at the greatest risk of death from Covid 19.

The ONS looked at death rates from coronavirus in England and Wales between 9 March and 28 December 2020. It found 31 in every 100,000 working-age men and 17 in every 100,000 working-age women had died of Covid-19. This equated to just under 8,000 deaths among 20-64-year-olds. (Which you will note is rather higher than the ‘Anti-lockdown brigade’ would have us believe) Two-thirds of these deaths were among men.

The same pattern emerged among teachers when primary and secondary staff were taken together. There were 18 deaths per 100,000 among men and 10 per 100,000 among women. These figures are of course both less than for the whole population. Breaking that down by role, the figures for secondary school teachers were 39 deaths per 100,000 people in men and 21 per 100,000 in women. These figures are of course both more than for the whole population.

Amongst nurses the same pattern appeared, 79 male nurses per 100,000 and 25 female nurses per 100,000. For care workers it was 110 men per 100,000 and 47 women per 100,000.

Even if secondary teachers were at higher risk than some other professional jobs where few or no deaths have occurred it is nothing like the risks faced by non-professionals.

Per 100,000 men aged 20-64, the figures were 119 restaurant and catering staff, 106 metal-working machine operatives, 101 taxi drivers and 100 security guards. These compare with a figure of 31 per 100,000 for the working age male population as a whole. In approximately comparable roles for women the figures per 100,000 were 27 retail and sales assistants and 22 cleaners. In summary people working in insecure, low paid have suffered a higher death rate than ‘professionals’ and amongst them men have been significantly more at risk than women.

There’s nothing new in this. This is what I wrote in an article for Northern Voices last June with the title Levelling The Gradient. ‘There is little appetite in the UK for recognising the effects of our very unequal society on the lives of our citizens, irrespective of their skin colour. Even when studies to examine the impact of inequality are done, their findings are ignored. And it’s not just the Tories who are wilfully blind. In February two of the candidates for the Labour leadership felt that a Jewish pressure group and a ‘trans’ pressure group needed their public support, but when the Marmot review which looked at differences in health outcomes appeared later in the month it had zero impact on the campaign.

The media gave prominence to only one finding; that 'Female life expectancy declined in the most deprived 10 percent of neighbourhoods’ and ignored both the large disparity in life expectancy (LE) between people of higher and people of lower economic and social status, and that, irrespective of economic status women tend to live longer than men. (see page 18, Figure 2.4) reported in the review. (my emphasis).

http://www.instituteofhealthequity.org/resources-reports/marmot-review-10-years-on/the-marmot-review-10-years-on-full-report.pdf

These disparities also exist with regard to the disability free life expectancy (DFLE), i.e. the number of years of life someone will have free from disability. The review referred to these differences as forming a ‘social gradient’.

What the review showed was that in England, the difference in life expectancy at birth between the least deprived 10% of the population and the most deprived 10% was more than 9 years for men and more than 7 years for women. Life expectancy at birth for men living in the most deprived areas in England was 74 years, compared with 83 years in the least deprived areas; the corresponding figures for women were 79 and 86 years in 2016-18. (see pages 15-17, figures 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3) in the review.’

The British Left has become obsessed with ‘Institutional Racism’. I would like to see more attention paid to ‘Institutional Inequality’.

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NHS haemophilia scandal: 'IN COLD BLOOD'

Editorial Note: WHAT follows below must be of great concern at a time when people are proclaiming 'DEFEND THE NHS'. It was clear to those of us that watched this program that people responsible at the top both in the NHS and within government were aware that possible contaminated blood products were being imported from the USA and that patients were being urged to inject themselves. The people in charge were prepared to take the risk seemingly because not to do so would have detrimental commercial consequences for the NHS. What will be of interest here is would a less centralised body have done the same?

From the Daily Mirror:

ITV documentary In Cold Blood delves into chilling 1980s haemophilia scandal in UK

The stories of lives destroyed by the haemophilia scandal, which killed more people than any other UK disaster, are revealed in a new ITV documentary

It exposes a 1980s cover-up over bleeding disorder patients receiving a treatment made from US donor blood – some of which was infected with the HIV and hepatitis C viruses.

Some victims were compensated, but with a gagging clause attached.

Colin and Denise Turton lost their son, Lee, at the age of 10, six years after he was infected with HIV.

Denise says on camera he suffered years of “hell”.

Over 4,000 people were infected with hepatitis C and 1,300 with HIV.

Documents revealing blunders that saw thousands killed by contaminated blood products were destroyed as the scandal emerged.

Officials at the Department of Health feared their failures to protect haemophiliacs would be made public, so dispatched records for shredding, say campaigners.

In the 1970s the Factor 8 treatment for haemophilia was prescribed on the NHS, but demand saw surplus sourced from America where donors were paid.

This encouraged them to lie about their medical past, and saw diseased products given to Brits.

More than 1,300 people were given HIV, and more than 4,000 people got Hepatitis C.

Around 2,400 died due to the infected blood products and a public inquiry into the scandal is ongoing.

Campaigners say the Government knew blood was dodgy and did nothing, then tried to hide their failure.

Former health minister David Owen this week told the infected blood inquiry victims had been failed by politicians and medics alike.

He said he “deeply regretted” that the UK had not become self-sufficient in blood products and continued to import them from the US.

In Cold Blood was on Sunday at 10.20 on ITV.

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Playing Russian Roulette With Workers’ Health

by Les May

UNTIL the last election my MP was Liz McInnes.  I did not always agree with her, but I thought of her as ‘one of us’.  Unlike the many MPs who get into politics through the law, business, finance, charities etc, Liz had had what many people would call ‘a proper job’ before going into politics.

One of the baffling things about the government response to the Covid19 pandemic is that building sites are being allowed to stay open. Is it, I wonder, that so many of our MPs are drawn from the ranks of those I listed above and simply don’t have any grasp of what actually happens on a building site?

Telling the us to wash our hands frequently and maintain a distance of at least 2m apart, is excellent advice for the general public, but just how do you do this on a building site?  How do you keep 2m apart when passing on scaffolding?

Workers on sites will be handling materials and tools which will have been handled by their workmates.  If one of these is infected with Covid19, not yet showing symptoms, but shedding the virus, where are the facilities for regular hand washing to prevent the virus spreading by contact?  At best lavatory facilities on building sites are often not much more than barely adequate.

Health and safety has always been a big issue in the construction industry and sometimes a source of conflict between employers and workers, sometimes leading to men being ‘blacklisted’ for drawing attention to safety issues.

By not ordering building sites to close the government is playing Russian roulette with the health of these workers and their families.  Is it possible that someone does not want to draw attention to the bogus self employed status of men working in the construction industry if the sites are closed?

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Debbie Abrahams MP debates state pensions!

Debbie Abrahams - Shadow Pensions Minister

THE UK state retirement age will probably be increased to 70 before many millennials - young people who are 18 to 35 today - retire and there won't be a pot left for  them  to piss in, because all the baby boomers born after WW11 will have gorged themselves on welfare benefits and left them with sweet FA.  Many of these baby boomers with their triple-lock pensions, have been Conservative Party voters and hard-line 'Brexiteers'.

I'm just at the back end of the baby boomers, born in the early 1950's.  No free bus pass for me at 60, but 66, assuming there are still free bus passes by 2020.  By then, I'll probably have a long white beard and a walking stick and possibly riddled with arthritis, and too ill to get on a bus.  However, if I lived in Wales, Scotland or NI, or an area of Greater London, I'd get a free bus pass at 60 but not in Labour controlled Greater Manchester, the home of the NORTHERN POORHOUSE.   And Labour are as much to blame for this, as the Tories.

While successive governments have increased the UK state retirement age, arguing that we're all living longer, we now know that since 2010, rises in life expectancy have stalled.  Researchers at the University of Manchester and York have found that while the rate of premature death in people under 45 was falling in the south, it was stagnating in the north.  In 2015, the number of premature deaths of people aged 35 to 44 was 50% higher in the north than the south.

It is argued that deindustrialisation in many parts of northern Britain, has led to precarious employment, unemployment, and increasing poverty.  Economic recession, along with the austerity programme and cuts to public spending, have resulted in an increase in deaths by suicide, - now the biggest cause of deaths of British men under 50 - substance abuse, and chronic health conditions among young people whose life chances and quality of life have worsened.  The university researchers also point out that the regional death gap has widened since the banking crisis and financial crash in 2008.

In his book 'The Health Gap 2015', Michael Marmot, professor of epidemiology at University college London, argues that while we have the medical knowledge to improve public health, life expectancy and quality of life, good health, is far too important to be left solely to doctors.  He points out that good health is not just related to access to technical solutions but to the nature of society - "the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age, have a profound influence on health and inequalities in childhood, working age and older age.  In short, levels of education, the social class we are born into, our income and wealth, and the region where we live, are all  factors which have a bearing on how long we will live. If you increase the age at which people can retire, then it is well known, that people who do heavy work in manual occupations are those ones who are most likely to die before reaching the state retirement age.

Shadow Work and Pensions Minister, Debbie Abrahams MP, has launched a national conversation with communities across the country to discuss State Pensions as part of the Labour Party’s commitment to ensure dignity and security in older age. She wants to hear your views and is inviting people to attend an event hosted by herself as part of a nation tour on:-

Date: Saturday 9^th September
Time: 2pm
Venue: John Holt Centre, Birch Avenue, Westhoughton, Bolton, BL5 2NR

In a circular to Labour Party members Debbie Abrahams says:

"Older people have been badly let down by the Tories. During this year’s General Election they failed to provide transitional protection to women born in the 1950s who have had the increase in their State Pension Age accelerated; in addition, they failed to guarantee they would protect the State Pension ‘triple lock’ and Winter Fuel Allowance.

Most recently the Government announced that they will be accelerating the increase in the State Pension Age to 68 at the same time it was announced that increases in life expectancy had ‘ground to a halt’.

This contrasts to the Labour Party’s manifesto pledge to retain the triple lock and winter fuel allowance, as well as provide support for 1950s born women through pensions credit and further transitional protections.

Labour has also rejected the accelerated increase in the State Pension Age to 68 and are examining options for a flexible retirement age.
Please RSVP here.

If you have any additional access needs please email jane_logan@labour.org.uk.

Please pass this invitation on to others in your area who may be interested in attending.
See you there."

Debbie

Debbie Abrahams
Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions