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COVID-19: Welsh well-being surveys highlight the impact on BAME population

Public Health Wales (PHW) has been conducting weekly surveys since April 2020 to highlight the effect of COVID-19 on the physical, mental and social well-being of Welsh people and how they are coping with the pandemic.

PHW has now analysed the data from the weekly surveys to get a better understanding of how COVID-19 and the measures to prevent its spread may have impacted the well-being of Welsh individuals of different ethnicities, particularly the Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) residents.

Key findings for the period from 13 April 2020 to 24 May 2020 are as follows:

  • Individuals from BAME backgrounds reported higher rates of anxiety and feelings of isolation.
  • Thirty-three per cent of BAME respondents reported feeling isolated compared with 22 per cent of non-BAME individuals.
  • However, a greater proportion of BAME individuals reported increased practices such as mindfulness to tackle these feelings compared with non-BAME individuals. (19% vs 7%).
  • Twenty-two per cent of BAME respondents reported worrying ‘a lot’ about their financial situation; and 17% about job loss and job availability compared with 11 per cent of non-BAME individuals.
  • Twenty-eight per cent of BAME respondents reported worrying ‘a lot’ about their own mental health compared with 19 per cent of non-BAME individuals.

Professor Mark Bellis, Director of Policy and International Health at PHW, said: "It’s extremely important for us to understand how Coronavirus and the current restrictions to prevent its spread are affecting people, and particularly how it may be affecting people differently, depending on their ethnicity, age, gender or financial background. Some individuals and communities can suffer both higher risks from infection and greater concerns about the impacts of continued restrictions on their livelihoods."


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