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the socio-economic ladder. In many countries, these people are also
among racial and ethnic minority groups, women, migrants, and
other socially disadvantaged groups.18
A second dimension to the mega-lockdowns, particularly in some
high-income countries, was that the expectation that hospitals would
be overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients led to the transfer of non-
COVID-19 patients, such as older people to nursing homesâa deci-
sion that has resulted in an alarming spread of infections and deaths.19
Paramedics responding to health emergency calls raised the threshold
for people being admitted to hospitals.20 Moreover, as news spread of
hospitals focusing their efforts on the COVID-19 response, of health
care workers dying of COVID-19, and the uncertainty expressed by
individuals wondering whether they would get adequate care, the
end result was people deciding not to go to a hospital despite needing
care. Nursing homes in the U.S., the U.K., France, Spain, and Canada
saw infections spread among patients, but were unable to provide
sufficient care, nor did they seem to be able to easily transfer nurs-
ing home residents needing care to hospitals. While much attention
focused on hospitalsâ daily death toll due to COVID-19, the number of
people dying at home and in nursing homes increased dramatically.
By May, âexcess mortalityâ due to non-COVID-19 causes was also
increasing dramatically.21 More people were dying from other causes
well beyond normal as there were people dying from COVID-19.
A third dimension of the lockdowns is the increase in various
harms to health and well-being, particularly for those with variety
of social disadvantages and vulnerabilities. For example, in India,
the Prime Minister gave a few hoursâ notice before implementing
a national lockdown.22 As a result, millions of people, especially
migrants who live on a daily cash wage, were left without any ability
to pay for food, housing, and other living costs. Without any social
18. The Lancet Editors, âThe Plight of Essential Workers During the COVID-19
Pandemicâ (23 May 2020) 395:10237 The Lancet 1587.
19. Kelly Grant & Tu Thanh Ha, âHow Shoring up Hospitals for COVID-19
Contributed to Canadaâs Long-Term Care Crisisâ, TheÂ
GlobeÂ
andÂ
Mail (20 May 2020),
online: <www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-how-shoring-up-hospitals-
for-covid-19-contributed-to-canadas-long/>.
20. Sarah Bloch-Budzier, âFears Some COVID Patients âNot Taken to Hospital,ââ
BBC News (23 April 2020), online: <www.bbc.com/news/health-52317781>.
21. âTracking COVID-19 Excess Deaths Across Countriesâ, The Economist (16 April
2020), online: <www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/04/16/tracking-covid-
19-excess-deaths-across-countries>.
22. Abi-Habib & Yasir, supra note 10.
VULNERABLE
The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Titel
- VULNERABLE
- Untertitel
- The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Autoren
- Vanessa MacDonnell
- Jane Philpott
- Sophie Thériault
- Sridhar Venkatapuram
- Verlag
- Ottawa Press
- Datum
- 2020
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- ISBN
- 9780776636429
- Abmessungen
- 15.2 x 22.8 cm
- Seiten
- 648
- Kategorien
- Coronavirus
- International