Challenges to social inclusion are being illuminated in the era of social distancing

Abstract

The year 2020 is like no other. The Covid-19 pandemic spread across the world, and with it shone a spotlight on long entrenched social inequalities and associated differences in our abilities to ‘socially distance’ and prepare for and endure enforced ‘lockdowns’. As Xafis (2020) puts it, those most affected by the pandemic “are individuals and groups routinely disadvantaged by the social injustice created by the misdistribution of power, money, and resources” (p. 1). Differences in health and disability status, ability to access care, occupational status, wealth, education, housing, food security, and cultural background, have all been attributed to differences in coronavirus mortality and morbidity rates (Xafis, 2020).