The Value of Social Resiliency During Times of Crisis: A case study on COVID-19 propensity in the Jane and Finch community of Toronto

Abstract

COVID-19 is an infectious disease that has disproportionately affected marginalized communities. Marginalization is not a result of an individual’s genetic chance, but an unfortunate result of purposeful, political, and economic decision making. Using a political economy framework, an analysis of four social determinants of health: housing, healthcare access, income, and race, were detailed and extrapolated to explain the systemic effect they have on the propensity of COVID-19 incidence in five northwest neighbourhoods of Toronto surrounding the Jane Street and Finch Avenue West intersection. Inadequate housing, stratified healthcare access, low income, and racialized communities were all present in these five neighbourhoods which also happen to have the highest concentration of COVID-19 case rates in the city of Toronto. These data suggest that the lack of social resiliency in these communities exposed the residents to an increased likelihood of COVID-19 infection. This inference echoes the work of scholars in the medical, public health, sociology, and political economy fields of research that describe a perpetuation of oppression through cycles in which monetary capital is prioritized over human capital. When economic opportunities are not afforded to communities based on implicit or explicit bias built into social systems, social mobility is stagnant and social resiliency is unachievable. This cycle is the means in which communities are made vulnerable and become marginalized.