British Jewry is in a unique position compared to other Diaspora communities. It is unusually well-documented when it comes to demography and social statistics. Which also means that it is one of the better understood communities. Better statistics=better understanding, as simple as that. Two factors account for this state of affairs.
From 2001 onwards the British statistical officialdom (the Office for National Statistic, the ONS) significantly enhanced its data collection on religion and ethnicity. Most importantly, Jews became identifiable in the national census. This did not happen in a vacuum and should be seen as a reaction to progressing ethnic and religious diversification of Britain. A one would expect, the academia, private and charitable sectors followed the suit. In addition, the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR) engaged in independent collection and study of the Jewish demographic and social statistics in Britain since the mid-20th century.
This repaid early in the course of the pandemic. British Jews became the first Jewish community in the Diaspora to have its ‘coronavirus situation’ clarified beyond reasonable doubt. In the first wave of the pandemic Jews were severely affected by coronavirus, more than the majority population of Britain (Christians) and in a way similar to some other minorities (Black, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh). The hazard ratios plotted below elegantly document the ‘Jewish penalty’. Hazard ratios are ratios of the chance of death from coronavirus in religious groups to the respective chance among Christians. The unadjusted chance for Jewish men (green column, top panel) is higher than 2.
2 March to 15 May 2020.
The ONS analysis managed to eliminate factors like age (answering the question ‘is it because Jews are a bit older than others?’) and place of residence (answering the question: ‘is it because Jews are concentrated in London, a centre of pandemic?’). Neither age nor location explain the ‘Jewish penalty’ in Britain. As a result of progressive adjustment the hazard ratio remained around 2.
My own reanalysis of the ONS data further showed that the pattern of elevated coronavirus mortality of British Jews had nothing to do with the strictly Orthodox subgroup and that the general rule of Jewish mortality (Jewish mortality is lower than mortality than non-Jewish population surrounding them) still holds. It is just the coronavirus that behaves differently. Why is that the case? I have no answers just hypotheses. But I will have an answer soon. A lot is known already and the scene is quite set for having it.
Access the key publications on coronavirus mortality of British Jews to date using the sidebar on the right.