IAS Talk Pieces: Life in the Time of Coronavirus. #1 Underlying Conditions

'We’ve all become used to hearing this phrase ‘underlying conditions’ in the context of COVID 19. Our unfortunate newsreaders have to keep repeating it in the daily litany of statistics and particularly the grim daily toll of COVID 19 deaths. We are told that in the vast majority of cases where an individual does badly with this infection that they suffered from one or more underlying condition (by which is usually meant, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, cancer, asthma…. What are often and misleadingly called “non-communicable diseases”) And when we’re told that they didn’t have any of these, there is, I think, an extra palpable sense of shock and horror...'  

Listen to this podcast here and find the whole series here.