Experts say the pandemic is multiplying longstanding problems linked to housing and racial inequality
Like clay pressed into a mould, Covid outbreaks tend to conform to the contours of a country’s existing inequalities and cracks, replicating them over again.
Social scientists have called the pandemic a “threat multiplier”, taking existing social problems, and compounding their force. In New Zealand, the country’s growing Delta outbreak is now interweaving with longstanding housing affordability crisis and racial inequalities. As the government continues to loosen restrictions, experts say a growing outbreak will make those divides more and more pronounced.
