疫情扩散与贫富差距如何陷入了恶性循环？- 大数跨境

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疫情扩散与贫富差距如何陷入了恶性循环？

QuriositySISU

2020-04-02

导读：当病毒来敲门，穷人与富人的处境截然不同。这场疫情中，我们的社会真的病了吗？

编者按

在新冠病毒席卷全球的今天，没有人能置身事外。有人说疫情面前实现了“人人平等” 。然而果真如此吗？有专家指出，这场疫情正在加剧社会分化，而贫富差距又会进一步恶化疫情……我们该如何摆脱这样的“死循环”？

全文约3000字，阅读需10分钟

How Inequality Worsens

the Coronavirus

社会不平等如何加剧了疫情？

Two major risk factors are thought to make the coronavirus deadlier for those who catch it: old age and pre-existing health conditions. But a body of research points to a third: low socioeconomic status.

人们通常认为，染上冠状病毒对于这两类人群来说更为致命：老年人、基础疾病患者。然而一系列研究表明，社会经济地位低下的人也面临着这样的风险。

a body of ：一系列

Even for those well above the poverty line, studies find that low income relative to the rest of society is associated with higher rates of chronic health conditions such as diabetes or heart disease.

研究发现，即使处在贫困线以上，那些收入较低的人群也更容易患上糖尿病、心脏病等慢性疾病。

diabetes：糖尿病

This has not always been the case. As inequality has risen, health disparities have widened. Preventive care and health education have steadily tilted toward the educated and the well-off.

而且，随着社会不平等加深，人们健康状况的差距也在逐渐扩大。预防性医疗保障和健康教育一直在向高学历人群和富豪阶层倾斜。

As a result, people at the lower ends of society are about 10 percent likelier to have a chronic health condition. Such conditions can make the coronavirus up to 10 times as deadly, according to recent data from the Chinese Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Taken together, these two statistics suggest that Covid-19 can be about twice as deadly for those along their society’s lower rungs.

这样的后果就是，处在社会底层的人患上慢性疾病的几率比上述人群要高10%。而根据中国疾控中心的最新调查数据，这也会使新冠病毒的致死率比正常情况下最高扩大10倍。将这两组数据综合来看，社会底层人群的新冠病毒致死率可能是其他社会阶层的两倍。

墨西哥城贫民区和富人区仅一墙之隔，鲜明对比贫富差距（图源网络）

At the same time, people with lower incomes tend to develop chronic health conditions between five and 15 years earlier in life, research finds. Put another way: People over 70 are at drastically greater risk of dying from the coronavirus. But the threshold may be as low as age 55 for people of lower socioeconomic status.

同时，研究发现，低收入者患慢性疾病的年龄往往比中高收入人群提前5至15年。也就是说，在一般情况下，70岁以上的患者死于新冠病毒的风险才会很高，而对于社会经济地位较低的人来说，这一年龄最低可能会提前到55岁。

threshold：临界值，极限

Those numbers capture only a sliver of the ways that inequality can make the coronavirus deadlier.

当然，阶级分化使疫情更加致命的原因还有很多，以上的研究数据，只是冰山一角而已。

Government-imposed shutdowns, like those announced by France and Spain this weekend, do come with some worker protections. But small businesses will probably struggle to keep paying employees beyond any guaranteed sick days, particularly those in retail or other sectors that cannot work from home.

像法国和西班牙日前由政府宣布强制停工，虽然在政策上要求保障工人的一定收入，但对于零售业或一些无法实现远程办公的小型企业来说，除了每年能为员工提供几天带薪病假，他们很难拿出更多的钱在这个时候发放工资了。

截至4月1日，全球新冠病毒确诊人数已达911308人，其中45497人死亡，191673治愈。

（图源：约翰斯·霍普金斯大学全球疫情地图）

In Japan, which has some of the lowest inequality of any major economy, people with jobs such as taxi driving enjoy a degree of security that rarely exists in other countries. Still, Atsunori Sakamoto, the president of the Nihonjo Taxi Company in Osaka, says that if business does not pick up in a few months he may have to let drivers go.

日本作为在所有主要经济体中职业最为平等的国家，像出租车司机也能享受一定程度的经济保障，这在别国是非常少有的。即便如此，大阪日本出租车公司的总经理坂本厚典也表示，如果这几个月生意还是没有起色，他可能也不得不裁员。

In Italy, in contrast, taxi drivers — already struggling on hourly wages undercut by the rise of ride-hailing services — scour for fares amid the outbreak.

然而在意大利，网约车服务业兴起已经大大削减出租车司机的时薪，如今在疫情爆发期间，出租车司机还要不停地招徕乘客，争取挣一点车费。

“I have got a mortgage, bills and groceries to pay,” said Andrea Arcangeli, a taxi driver and father of two from Rome. “I can’t stay home.” He said he had made only 18 euros — about $20 — in a day’s work.

安德里亚·阿坎杰利是一位罗马的出租车司机，还带着两个孩子。他说：“我既要还贷款、还账单，还要置办各种日常生活用品。我不能待在家里不去赚钱。”然而，他工作了一天，却只赚了18欧元（约20美元，137元）。

mortgage：抵押贷款

How the Coronavirus

Worsens Inequality

疫情如何加剧了社会不平等？

When inequality is high, the cost of living tends to rise, forcing more lower-income families to live paycheck to paycheck. At the same time, the decline of labor unions and the rise of part-time work means that low-income workers have fewer protections.

当不平等程度加大时，生活花费就会上升，许多低收入家庭不得不拮据度日。同时，工会的减少和兼职的增多意味着低收入人群受到的保护更少。

labor unions：工会

“I am not ashamed to say I did not pay my bills this month,” said Lara Fulciniti, a waitress in a suburb of Milan. “I had to choose between those and groceries.”

米兰郊区的女服务员劳拉·富尔奇尼蒂说：“的确，我本月没有付账单，这并不羞耻，因为我不得不在付账单和买食品之间做出选择。”

Unequal access to health care in any country makes getting sick especially expensive for the poor. In the United States, 90 percent of people whose income is in the top quarter have paid sick leave at work, while only 47 percent of those in the bottom quarter do.

在任何国家，不平等的医疗机会都使得生病对穷人来说是更大的负担。在美国，收入最高的四分之一的人群里有90%的人有带薪病假，而收入最低的四分之一人群中只有47%的人有这个福利。

Last year, 26 percent of Americans deferred health care because they could not afford it, one Gallup poll found. In another survey, one in four said someone in their family had skipped a doctor-recommended test they could not afford, and one in six said that someone in their family had skipped prescribed medication.

盖普洛民意调查显示，去年26%的美国人因为无法承担费用而推迟医疗服务。在另一项调查中，四分之一的人说，他们的家人中有人因为支付不起而没有做医生建议的检查，六分之一的人说，他们的家人中有人没有开处方药。

Gallup poll：盖洛普民意检测。是指由盖洛普设计的用以调查民众的看法、意见和心态的一种测试方法。

图源网络

Health experts fear that these costs will accelerate outbreaks, particularly as stories circulate of four-digit bills for coronavirus testing or treatment.

健康专家担心这些费用会加速疾病的爆发，特别是在关于检测或治疗冠状病毒的费用高达四位数的说法传开时。

This can affect everyone. One study in the United States found that state-mandated sick day policies reduce the spread of an influenza epidemic by up to 40 percent. Most states have no such policy and could see far more infections as a result.

这会影响到每一个人。美国一项研究发现，国家规定的病假政策能减少40%的流行疾病传播。而大多数州没有这样的法律规定，因此可能会有更多人感染。

state-mandated：国家规定的

Labor inequality and poor workplace protections may exacerbate the spread of norovirus, a highly contagious stomach bug. Research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that one in five food service employees went to work while sick with vomiting or diarrhea for fear of losing their jobs if they stayed home, turning restaurants into vectors for norovirus outbreaks.

劳动分工的不平等和防护不周的工作场所可能会加剧诺如病毒（一种传染性很强的胃病）的传播。美国疾病控制与预防中心研究发现，五分之一的食品服务业员工在生病呕吐或腹泻时继续上班，因为他们担心请假在家会失业。这让餐馆成为诺如病毒爆发的传染介体。

diarrhea：腹泻

vector：（传染病的）介体、载体

Though public health officials had urged social distancing — also a cornerstone of coronavirus prevention — spotty access to health care and the economics of part-time employment led three in 10 workers with H1N1 symptoms to continue going to work, the study found. The researchers concluded that this behavior drove a staggering 27 percent of all infections.

研究发现，尽管公共卫生官员曾敦促人们保持距离——这也是预防冠状病毒的一个重要部分——但参差不齐的卫生保健机会和兼职员工的经济状况导致每10名有H1N1症状的工人中就有3人继续工作。研究人员得出结论，这种行为导致惊人的27%的感染率。

图源网络

The Pandemic-Inequality

Feedback Loop

流行病与贫富差距间的恶性循环

When a health crisis hits entire segments of society, it can set off a cycle in which declining economic status leads to rising rates of chronic illness. That, in turn, further depresses productivity and raises health care costs, leading to more poverty, which leads to more disease.

当健康危机冲击整个社会时，会形成恶性循环，经济状况的下滑会导致慢性病病发率上升，这反过来会降低生产力并且抬高医疗费用，进而加剧贫困，导致更多人患病。

According to a 2010 study by a British biological sciences journal, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, whole communities can become caught in a “disease-driven poverty trap” in which “the combined causal effects of health on poverty and poverty on health implies a positive feedback system.”

2010年英国生物科学杂志《皇家学会学报B辑》的一项研究表明，整个社区都可能会陷入“疾病导致的贫穷陷阱”，这其中“健康与贫穷的因果关系意味着这会形成一个正反馈系统“。

Families reliant on hourly work are already running out of money, forcing many back out to look for jobs. Because communities tend to cluster by economic status, Dr. Errett said, the people who are both at the greatest risk of infection and likely to suffer most from the virus are all in proximity, multiplying the risk.

依靠小时工工资生活的家庭已经没有积蓄了，他们不得不外出寻找工作。埃立特医生说，社区通常是按照人们不同的经济地位形成的，有最高感染风险的人和感染最严重的人都聚集在一起，这更增大了风险。

Longer-term consequences are coming into view. New York City officials have said that closing local schools would leave many of the system's 114,000 homeless students without hot meals or medical care.

长期影响也正浮出水面。纽约官员称，如果关闭学校，将会有114，000名无家可归的学生吃不上热乎的饭菜，得不到相应的医疗保障。

Picking up children from school in New York City （The New York Times）

在纽约接孩子回家（《纽约时报》）

A study from Delhi, India, one of the world’s most economically polarized cities, found that its slums served as citywide accelerants for an influenza outbreak.

印度德里是世界上经济两极化最严重的城市之一。一项研究表明，那里的贫民窟是全市流感爆发的加速剂。

“Public health isn’t just about your own personal health, it’s about the health of the public at large,” Dr. Errett said. “If there’s one person who can’t get treatment, that person is posing a risk to everyone.”

埃里特医生说：“公共卫生不只关乎于个人健康，还关乎广大公众的健康，但凡有一个人得不到治疗，就会给所有人带来风险。”