Now more than ever We need a public Inquiry & Zero Covid Strategy

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE STATEMENT & SIGNATORIES & ADD YOUR NAME

With daily cases now over 60,000 and hospital admissions + deaths set to surpass April’s peak, Britain is now at the most serious point in this public health emergency. And with new restrictions in place but limited support and investment, thousands of people will now be faced with impossible choices between the health of their families and their livelihoods.

The disproportionate impact of this pandemic on BAME communities has been incredibly stark – from the ratio of deaths to the economic impact and the use of police powers against black communities.

This week Dr Augustine Obaro and  Dr Abdul-Razaq Abdullah became the 15th and 16th GPs to die from COVID, all bar one of whom have been from a BAME background. This pattern has been repeated across the medical and public service field, as well as in ICU units across the country.

This is no longer in the national headlines. And it needs to be.

From the incredible work of the NEU and others to force the government’s hand on school closures to the inspiring campaigns led by Marcus Rashford, we have seen during this crisis that campaigning works.

In November we launched a statement calling for a range of measures including a public inquiry on COVID disproportionate impact, an end to NHS charging for migrants and no recourse to public funds, and a strategy for Zero Covid including a fully functioning find, test, track and trace system led by local public health teams, plus lockdown measures that will both reduce the virus and provide proper support to communities.

These demands are more relevant now than ever. That’s why we are relaunching this petition calling for:

• A public inquiry into the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on BAME communities.
• Immediate action to create a functioning test, track and trace system with funding given to local NHS public health teams.
• The national lockdown including the physical closure of schools, colleges and universities to continue until deaths and infections have significantly reduced.
• Proper financial support for communities including furlough to continue as long as necessary, more support for the self-employed and small businesses, and funding for schools, colleges and universities to support home learning.
• The implementation of measures outlined in the Runnymede Trust / IPPR report on ethnic disparities including isolation pay support for those with no recourse to public funds and an end to NHS charging under the hostile environment.

Signatories to the letter include MPs and peers from 3 parties including MPs Diane Abbott, Kate Osamor, Dawn Butler, Chris Stephens (SNP), Liz Saville-Roberts (Plaid Cymru), Labour Peer Peter Hain, trade union General Secretaries including Unite the Union’s Len McCluskey, representatives of campaign groups including Stand Up To Racism, Muslim Engagement & Development (MEND), The Jewish Socialists’ Group, We Own It, Dr Siema Iqbal from AskDoc and many more.

Please add your name, and share widely to spread the word.