- We know that diseases that increase the risk of dying in covid-19 are also much more common among low-income earners. They are increasingly affected by obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and high blood pressure, says Sir Michael Marmot, one of the world's foremost experts on how social factors and cuts affect human health and longevity.

When Prince Charles, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and celebrities like Tom Hanks became infected, it seemed that the corona virus hit everyone in the community just as hard.

But as time goes on, it becomes increasingly clear that this is not the case, says Michael Marmot from his home in London where he has been sitting isolated for weeks because of a virus whose social consequences he is becoming increasingly worried about.

Can't work at home

Michael Marmot points out that people with lower incomes rarely have occupations that allow them to work from home and that many are confined, which increases the risk of spreading infection.

The 75-year-old Briton can titillate himself thanks to his efforts in British public health, which he has spent most of his life studying.

Earlier this year, he presented a report on the consequences of the 2008 financial crisis and the subsequent economic tightening on human health in the UK.

Among other things, the life expectancy of the population stopped increasing, and the health gaps became larger. Among women in the poorest areas, life expectancy even decreased.

The economic crisis is costing lives

Michael Marmot fears that even the economic crisis that the world is in because of the virus outbreak will also cost many lives.

 - There is a clear link between unemployment and increased risk of suicide. Previous research has shown that people who lose their jobs run a 20 percent higher risk of dying compared to people in the same social class but who have a job. Losing one's income and social standing and relationships is extremely stressful and can have acute effects on human health, he says.

So is there a risk that the measures put in place to stop the virus by extension can be more dangerous than the virus itself - that the cure gets worse than the soot? Michael Marmot does not want to answer that question.

 - I don't want to put two things against each other. We must do what is necessary to gain control of the pandemic, ”he says.