London mayor uses pandemic to highlight social justice agenda

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has written an op-ed highlighting the disproportionate numbers of black, Asian and other minority ethnic (BAME) communities being impacted by the coronavirus.

“Despite making up only 14% of the population, one study has shown that we account for a third of critically ill coronavirus patients in our hospitals,” Khan wrote in The Guardian this past weekend.

Khan is proposing collecting and publishing real-time data on the demographics of everyone impacted by the coronavirus, so that in theory London society and government will be able to better understand the problem and who is impacted most heavily.

Though he also writes that “it’s by no means a revelation that there’s a link between health and socioeconomic inequalities.”

In response to the government agreeing to launch a review of why some groups are being disproportionately affected by the coronavirus, Khan writes that he “fear(s) we already know the conclusions of the review, and what action is needed.”

The mayor does not clarify what specific actions the real time-data would help the government take. However, at the end of his piece Khan does pivot to discussing a wider platform of social and economic justice that he hopes all of London will be able to focus on once the pandemic passes.

“Once this crisis is over, we will need to forge a new social contract that advances the twin causes of racial and economic equality, and prioritizes the welfare and wellbeing of every single community in this country,” writes the mayor.