This article examines what role equality law can play in addressing the inequalities created and exacerbated by the British government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. We argue that while there is great potential in existing legislation, there is a need for both policy-makers and courts to apply a more searching and nuanced understanding of the right to equality if this potential is to be realised. We begin by examining how the burdens of confronting this pandemic as a society fall more heavily on those already at the bottom end of the scale of inequality. We then ask whether and to what extent the current legal structures protecting the right to equality can be mobilised to redress such inequalities, paying particular attention to the Public Sector Equality Duty under the Equality Act 2010 and on the Human Rights Act 1998. Finally, we argue that, to fulfil the requirements of both these legal duties, the courts should subject policies and practices to close scrutiny under the four-dimensional approach. When making and operationalising policies around Covid-19, substantive equality requires account to be taken simultaneously of the four dimensions of inequality to the greatest extent possible.

中文翻译：

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姑息或保护：平等权应如何影响政府对 Covid-19 的反应？

本文探讨了平等法在解决英国政府对 Covid-19 大流行的反应所造成和加剧的不平等方面可以发挥什么作用。我们认为，虽然现有立法具有巨大潜力，但如果要实现这种潜力，政策制定者和法院都需要对平等权进行更深入、更细致的理解。我们首先研究了作为一个社会，应对这一流行病的负担如何更多地落在那些已经处于不平等程度底端的人身上。然后，我们询问是否以及在多大程度上可以动员当前保护平等权的法律结构来纠正这种不平等，特别关注 2010 年平等法和 1998 年人权法规定的公共部门平等义务。 最后，我们认为，为了履行这两项法律职责的要求，法院应根据四维方法对政策和实践进行严格审查。在围绕 Covid-19 制定和实施政策时，实质性平等需要最大程度地同时考虑不平等的四个方面。