The relation between the social and the biological and COVID-19

Abstract

Social factors have been linked to disease severity and mortality in COVID-19. These social factors are ethnicity, social disadvantage, age, gender and occupation. Pre-existing medical conditions have also been identified as increasing risk. This paper explores the relationship between these social and biological factors using a syndemic frame of reference. The paper argues that while the associations have been very well documented, the mechanisms linking the social factors and disease outcomes are not well understood. An approach, which seeks to find commensurability between the social and the biological, is suggested.

Has the pandemic resulted in a renewed and improved focus on heath inequalities in England? A discourse analysis of the framing of health inequalities in national policy

“…The research team reviewed the full list of results and selected documents for analysis based on a review of titles and context to identify the key relevant documents. The purpose was to identify key illustrative documents which represented the primary inequalities response from each organisation, rather than systematically identify every policy document that referred to health inequalities [ 1 ].…”

“…The COVID-19 pandemic compounded population level health inequalities across the world, and in England, disproportionately affecting minority ethnic groups, those living in areas of greatest deprivation, older people and persons with certain pre-existing medical conditions - the same conditions which drive the patterning of health inequities [ 1 ]. In England, the mortality risk from Covid-19 was 3.7 times greater for black African men than their white counterparts during the first wave of Covid-19 and Bangladeshi men were more than five times more likely to die during the second wave.…”

Reconsidering the Declaration of ‘Crisis’ While Living through One

“…We need to critique the ways that public health services were woefully unprepared for COVID-19 (Roitman 2021); the crushing of public debate amidst the power plays of democratic governments over-extending their reach (Wynn 2021); and the necropolitics underpinning decision-making as to which communities are most likely to survive and which most likely to perish (Rouse 2021). At the same time, however, due to COVID-19 many of us around the globe have experienced extreme disruptions and reconfigurations of our daily lives and futures, played out to starkly different effect across, among other things, lines of class, ethnicity, biological vulnerability, citizenship, and vaccine status (Kelly 2021). To ignore the impact of the pandemic on our lived experiences risks putting us out of touch with how ordinary people in ordinary communities are living through what is rapidly becoming one of the most pivotal politically and socially manufactured and biologically constituted (noting the inseparability of these three) moments in contemporary history.…”

Alzheimer’s Disease and SARS-CoV-2: Pathophysiological Analysis and Social Context

“…In the United Kingdom, during the evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic from 2020 to 2021, it was reported that elderly people and those with pre-existing medical conditions had higher risk of infection and mortality than the rest of the population, indicating a close relationship between social and biological phenomena. This report reflects an evidentiary gap regarding the COVID-19 pandemic which unfortunately is not exclusive to the United Kingdom [ 30 ]. Therefore, this study was aimed at analyzing the pathophysiology of the interaction between AD and SARS-CoV-2, as well as its social context.…”