Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Sep 9;19(1):154.
doi: 10.1186/s12939-020-01257-6.

Coping with the COVID-19 pandemic - the role of leadership in the Arab ethnic minority in Israel

Mor Saban  1 , Vicki Myers  2 , Rachel Wilf-Miron  2   3
Affiliations

Coping with the COVID-19 pandemic - the role of leadership in the Arab ethnic minority in Israel

Mor Saban et al. Int J Equity Health. .

Abstract

Background: The Arab ethnic minority makes up 21% of Israel's population, yet comprised just 8.8% of confirmed cases and 3.6% of deaths from COVID-19, despite their higher risk profile and greater burden of underlying illness. This paper presents differences in patterns of morbidity and mortality from COVID-19 in the Arab, ultra-Orthodox and overall populations in Israel, and suggests possible reasons for the low rates of infection in the Arab population.

Methods: Data were obtained from the Israeli Ministry of Health's (MOH) open COVID-19 database, which includes information on 1270 localities and is updated daily. The database contains the number of COVID-19 diagnostic tests performed, the number of confirmed cases and deaths in Israel.

Results: In the first 4 months of Israel's COVID-19 outbreak, just 2060 cases were confirmed in the Arab population, comprising 8.8% of the 23,345 confirmed cases, or 2.38 times less than would be expected relative to the population size. In contrast, the ultra-Orthodox made up 30.1% of confirmed cases yet just 10.1% of the population. Confirmed case rate per 100,000 was twice as high in the general Jewish population compared to the Arab population. The Arab mortality rate was 0.57 per 100,000, compared to 3.37 in the overall population, and to 7.26 in the ultra-Orthodox community. We discuss possible reasons for this low morbidity and mortality including less use of nursing homes, and effective leadership which led to early closure of mosques and high adherence to social distancing measures, even during the month of Ramadan.

Conclusions: Despite a disproportionate burden of underlying illness, the Arab population did not fulfil initial predictions during the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak and maintained low numbers of infections and deaths. This contrasts with reports of increased mortality in ethnic minorities and economically disadvantaged populations in other countries, and with high rates of infection in the ultra-Orthodox sector in Israel. Effective leadership and cooperation between individuals and institutions, particularly engagement of community and religious leaders, can reduce a group's vulnerability and build resilience in an emergency situation such as the current pandemic.

Keywords: Arab; COVID-19; Ethnic; Israel; Leadership; Ultra-orthodox Jew.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Confirmed case rate, mortality rate and testing rate by population group
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Hooper M, Nápoles A, JAMA EP-S-, 2020 U. COVID-19 and Racial/Ethnic Disparities. jamanetwork.com [Internet] 2020 [cited 2020 May 24];Available from: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2766098.
    1. APM Labs . The color of coronavirus: COVID-19 deaths by race and ethnicity in the US. 2020.
    1. Office for National Statistics. Deaths involving COVID-19 by local area and socioeconomic deprivation: deaths occurring between 1 March and 17 April 2020: Off Natl Stat; 2020.
    1. Kirby T. Evidence mounts on the disproportionate effect of COVID-19 on ethnic minorities. Lancet. 2020;8(6):547–548. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Public Health England. Beyond the data: Understanding the impact of COVID-19 on BAME communities GOV.UK [Internet]. [cited 2020 Jul 1];Available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-understanding-the-im....

MeSH terms