Hello there.
Industrial noise rock band Health is featured on a new Gunship track this past week. Suitable in tone and my own personal nostalgia as half of the country is clamoring for any tidbit of news around Mpox, and the other half is blissfully ignorant. I started listening to Health in early 2020 during the first pandemic closures, and it fit the vibe: heavy, distorted guitars, aggressive percussion, and eerie electronic elements to create something dense, like a wall, around the listener.
“Long ago, I knew myself / Now I know, no one knows anyone else”
- Blood For The Blood God
Today, I’d like to recommend a book by Dr. Stephen Thrasher, The Viral Underclass. It seems a fitting title with both fear and ignorance swirling around another possible outbreak.
First off, outbreaks can and do happen. Regularly. Obviously not at the scale that the novel Coronavirus did in 2019-2020, but just because one might not hear about an event or feel it personally, doesn’t mean there isn’t a real human cost. The work of Dr. Thrasher explains this well.
“Just because one might not hear about an event or feel it personally, doesn’t mean there isn’t a real human cost.”
Thrasher’s book delves into how viruses disproportionately affect marginalized communities, creating a "viral underclass" that is constantly under threat. Please don’t think this an exaggeration. Thrasher writes about how viruses like HIV, COVID-19, and now Mpox exacerbate existing inequalities, stating, "Viruses exploit the fault lines in our social systems, and those on the margins are always the most vulnerable."
This is a powerful lens through which to view the ongoing impact of Mpox, even if it hasn’t reached the same level of global disruption as COVID-19. Thrasher argues that viruses don’t just affect individuals biologically; they also exploit and deepen existing social inequalities. This perspective is crucial for understanding why we can’t ignore Mpox, even if it seems less severe in terms of lockdowns or death tolls, because of its contact-based transmission.
“ ‘Look at the map of COVID-19 rates’, our mutual friend had tweeted. ‘It is a map of poverty, racism, and overpolicing. People are dying in jail and because they have been to jail.’
“They were articulating something I had been working through for a few days: people were getting sick from this new virus because of where they lived, and they were dying disproportionately from it because of the bodies they had been living in their whole lives. Their bodies had repeatedly been pushed into contact with danger.” (pg. 5)
Thrasher goes on to dispel the notion of COVID-19 as the great equalizer, and instead describes it as “a magnifier of the divisions already present in our world.”
Mpox — like the viruses Thrasher discusses in his book — disproportionately affects communities which are already marginalized. He writes, "Viruses are not just biological entities; they are social phenomena that follow the lines of existing inequalities." The impact of Mpox is felt most acutely by those who have less (or no) access to healthcare, those who are socially marginalized, and those who are stigmatized due to their identities. To paraphrase the book, those who have, at any point in their personal history, existed closer to danger. Have you lost your job for any stretch of time? Lost your health insurance? Even these put you in closer proximity to danger, especially in discussing health outcomes, and especially repeatedly or long-term.
“Have you lost your job for any stretch of time? Lost your health insurance? Even these put you in closer proximity to danger, especially in discussing health outcomes, and especially repeatedly or long-term.”
Well, who are we talking about? Black, indigenous, and Latinx people, queer and trans people, migrants, poor folks, the unhoused, and more. The LGBTQ+ community has been significantly affected by Mpox, much like it was during the early days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
In the opening chapter, Thrasher points out when George Floyd’s remains tested positive for SARS-Co-V-2 antibodies. I know Floyd’s death has been politicized to a point that makes many tune out or skip over his name. I hope you’ll read on regardless of your personal beliefs, because this point cannot be emphasized enough.
George Floyd’s case is a great example to begin to deepen your understanding of intersectionality. Thrasher explains Floyd’s multiple jail terms (including a stint brought into being by the claims of an officer later “charged with falsifying evidence and murder”), interspersed with what multiple overlapping part time gigs he could get, including a history with working with another marginalized population: the homeless. All of these jobs (truck driving, security, etc.) have their challenges — both a physical toll and a mental toll from chronic stress — and none are industries known for their defense of workers’ rights. They are unreliable hours, likely without healthcare provisions, for low pay, with no upward mobility. Individuals I’ve known in similar situations feel stuck. “What other opportunities are there for someone with my background?”
News outlets are quick to point out addiction in Floyd’s backstory, but I feel it’s important to emphasize why the book points this out: It brings Floyd closer to danger. There’s a line I like to leave with people that has stuck with me for many years: “It’s not the rat, it’s the cage.”*
This is a reference to a study in the late 70s about Rat Park, and the impact of one’s environment has on addiction. The study has since had its methodologies criticized and couldn’t be replicated in the one subsequent test, but if you know, loved, or worked with those impacted by addiction, you understand a truth inherent: There are many external variables (which, dare I say, intersect) that impact a person’s penchant for addiction and pleasure-seeking, it would be ignorant to paint it as a simple character flaw.
“There are many external variables that impact a person’s penchant for addiction and pleasure-seeking, it would be ignorant to paint it as a simple character flaw.”
Floyd, like so many others in the US and across the globe, face a reality that most people reading this can likely not imagine. Racism, poverty, addiction, and prolonged close-contact with others in the same boat. Each factor a tick upward in the exponential trajectory of one’s circumstances toward danger.
Relative silence around Mpox in the broader public discourse can be dangerous. Thrasher emphasizes that ignoring a virus because it isn’t as devastating as something like COVID-19 is a form of societal neglect that further entrenches the inequalities he describes. Just because Mpox hasn’t caused widespread lockdowns doesn’t mean it isn’t causing real harm to real people.
Maybe you or your family aren’t worried about Mpox, or having to close your schools. That’s a privilege, and I’d daresay one that could still possibly cost your loved ones their health. Maybe you’re not worried because you “trust” your neighbors and their children, because you’ve identified them as “like you”, and no one like you has Mpox. Maybe you’re too worried to offend. Maybe you subconsciously consider your neighbors or your children’s friends (or all Americans) “too clean” to spread a virus of this nature through close contact. Maybe you have full faith in ill children to have learned to be able to scan themselves and identify that they’re ill. Maybe you think they’ll all have the privilege of being safe enough at home to stay, of having someone to stay home with them if they’re young enough to need a caretaker.
Even in the finest of school microcosms, those kinds of circumstances aren’t guaranteed. There are families in every school that don’t have the ability or resources that you might imagine them to have. It’s dangerous to make assumptions about the way others live — even when it’s not dangerous for you, it almost always is for at-risk youth. The assumptions ignore the reality of a so many over-full classrooms, with children sitting close and sharing resources. Trust has nothing to do with science, and is often misplaced. All of us have circumstances out of our control.
“Trust has nothing to do with science, and is often misplaced.” All of us have circumstances out of our control.
The last part of the book I’ll mention is the author’s personal disclosures. I’m glad that Dr. Thrasher provides his own vulnerabilities, insofar as how his personal circumstances overlap with the viral underclass. I’m sure it can be frightening to admit anything about oneself when challenging a complex, far-reaching system like our social structure. Instead of jeopardizing his credibility, I think his honesty will bolster many readers of this book. He mentions long-standing housing risks, being in absentia for foundational childhood vaccinations as well as young adult healthcare being uninsured like so many people in the US, food insecurity, and his identity as a Black gay man. I hope that it can help to open minds.
The book is amazing, it can open your eyes to a topic with very little widespread coverage. This was a longer entry, and it barely scratched the surface of the book, so I encourage you to read it. You can’t help but leave the book with a sense of hope and possibility if we’re willing to advocate for it. Thrasher’s work reminds us that we must remain vigilant and compassionate, ensuring that no one is left behind simply because a virus doesn’t seem as immediately threatening to the general population. No need to be alarmist, but think twice before you believe broadcast media (or for god’s sake, someone on social media) telling you “don’t worry,” designed to be delivered to only one subset of society. Turn over the rocks. Critically examine what you’re being reassured of — because even if it doesn’t help you immediately, it might help your neighbor.
Until next time,
Nico
*Please understand I’m in no way inferring that George Floyd — or anyone afflicted by addiction — is a ‘rat’ in the common idiom’s sense, nor am I trying to liken them to deceitfulness or duplicity**; it’s a reference to humans being wired in the same ways as these social creatures, as outlined by Rat Park experimenters in 1979.
**Also, I resent that rats are characterized in this light, I think they’re as sweet as any other animal, and shouldn’t be tested on in the first place.