Visible minorities face racism and higher mortality rates during COVID-19, experts say

Visible minorities are more likely to contract COVID-19 and face severe outcomes from the virus, said experts at a University of Toronto webinar on Tuesday. 

Race, Racism and COVID-19, hosted by the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health, explored fundamental causes of racial inequities in COVID-19 and structural racism.

Key factors influencing racial disparities include access to testing and quality health care, said Nancy Krieger and Camille Orridge, a professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, at the event.

Seventy-nine per cent of the COVID-19 cases in Toronto are racialized Torontonians, whereas 52 per cent of the city identifies with a racial group, said Spadina-Fort York Councillor Joe Cressy at the event.   

“This data isn’t new, it isn’t surprising, but for a lot of people it’s been a wake up call and thank goodness,” said Cressy at the event. 

According to Statistics Canada, the age-standardized COVID-19 mortality rate (per 100,000) in communities made up of over 25 per cent visible minorities was 34.5, while the number for communities made up of less than one percent visible minorities was only 16.9.

“There are terrible inequalities in who is more likely to die if infected, reflecting pre-existing social economic contingent health inequities,” said Krieger at the event. 

There were over 600 racist incidents and attacks against Asian and Chinese communities in Canada during COVID-19, according to a report from the Chinese Canadian National Council  For Social Justice (CCNC-SJ) and Project 1907, a volunteer-run group which aims to elevate and amplify underrepresented Asian voices. 

Verbal harassment, which includes name-calling and racial slurs, was the most reported type of discrimination. Nearly 30 per cent of the reported incidents were assaults, which includes targeted spitting, coughing and physical violence. 

There have been many anti-Asian racist comments on social media during the pandemic, including people referring to COVID-19 as the “China virus,” said CCNC-SJ co-ordinator Victoria Yeung in a phone interview with the Ryerson School of Journalism.

“I think the best case is to ignore it. A lot of these people are trolls and they’re trying to get a reaction,” Yeung said. 

The CCNC-SJ strives to combat anti-Asian racism during the COVID-19 pandemic through online resources and social media. 

Canadian journalist Ethan Lou, who is of Chinese descent, received an email from a man who blamed China’s “wet markets” and “disgusting food practices” for the “China Virus.” 

Lou, a writer for publications including the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail, was not surprised by this email, as he was familiar with the CCNC-SJ’s report. 

“In times of crisis, we look for someone to blame,” Lou said in a phone interview with the RSJ. 

Dalhousie University student Sasha Wang, 18, tried to disregard the subtle racist attitudes of members in her Halifax community, but that proved to be difficult. 

“There wasn’t much I could do about it,” said Wang in a phone interview with the RSJ. “I tried to brush it off and ignore it but it was always in the back of my mind.”

A poll conducted by the CCNC-SJ found that four per cent of respondents in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal believed all Chinese or Asian people carry COVID-19. Twenty-one percent didn’t think it was safe to sit next to a Chinese or Asian person on a bus without a mask.

“I will certainly be the first to tell you that, on the whole, all levels of government have failed on this front,” said Cressy at the event. “We have task forces at every level of government around PPE. We have task forces to co-ordinate enforcement. Where’s the task force on equity?”