Coronavirus Could Devastate Indigenous Communities

jem • May 19, 2020

In another week filled with coronavirus clichés, “COVID-19 doesn’t discriminate” has become something of a catchcry. Tom Hanks got it, Prince Charles beat it, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is recovering from it, having just been released from intensive care. 


And yet despite this smattering of headline-grabbing, high-profile cases, history tells us that pandemics do indeed discriminate.


During the Spanish Flu of 1919, Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families accounted for 30 per cent of the death toll in Queensland. When swine flu hit in 2009, Indigenous people made up 11 per cent of cases nationally (despite only representing 3 per cent of the population) and their fatality rate was six times higher than that of non-Indigenous citizens.


Now, as coronavirus spreads across the country, fears for First Nations people are at an all-time high. In the words of Pat Turner, CEO of National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO): “I can’t be any blunter. If COVID-19 gets into our communities, we are gone.”

Deep-seated health and socioeconomic inequity are at the heart of this vulnerability. “Many Indigenous people have chronic diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular disease, which leads to worse outcomes if they’re diagnosed with COVID-19,” explains Dr Jason Agostino, NACCHO Medical Advisor. “In addition, overcrowding and poor facilities in homes, particularly in remote communities, mean the virus could spread very quickly if there’s not space to isolate and quarantine.”


Meanwhile, a lack of personal protective equipment could be catastrophic. Last week The Guardian reported that one Aboriginal health group in Victoria had stopped all COVID-19 testing and was considering shutting its doors due to the shortage.


“There are PPE shortages all across Australia,” confirms Dr Agostino. “But it can be particularly bad in remote areas. We did an audit in our communities recently, and in one, there were 10 masks to go around for 350 people.”


For human rights advocate Debbie Kilroy, these stats and facts are gut-wrenching. “I’m absolutely terrified for Indigenous communities,” she says. “My husband, children and grandchildren are Aboriginal.


“We’re hearing from elders in isolated communities that the government is not sending them medical services or support – they’re sending them body bags for children. That breaks my heart. I cannot believe that this is happening and no one really knows about it.


“The government is telling elders to stay in the community, knowing they’re more at risk there. The elders will die very quickly when this hits isolated communities because there’s no medical support.”


So how do we help to halt this spread?

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