COVID‐19 Has Exposed How ‘The Other Half’ (Still) Lives

Abstract

Socioeconomic factors are heavily shaping the COVID‐19 pandemic in South America. Consequently, societies are now facing the stark effects of lockdown, while largely failing to stop the epidemic. In Chile, this has been amplified by decision‐makers who have overlooked critical socio‐spatial aspects of the epidemic. Precarious living conditions, together with spatial segregation and unstable domestic economies, help explain why mitigation strategies remain unsuccessful. The article also explores how political frameworks for approaching these issues may change because of the pandemic.

Effectiveness of Localized Lockdowns in the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…The marginal effectiveness of localized lockdowns may decline over time, as suggested by the results in Figure S7 (Supplementary Material). On one hand, lockdowns may be particularly challenging for socially vulnerable individuals who depend on daily wages, have limited savings, or do not receive external support, as their need to secure income may conflict with policy (47,48). On the other hand, lockdowns may not immediately decrease 𝑅 𝑡 to their full potential because transmission within households or other group residences, such as nursing homes, account for a substantial proportion of new cases (6,49).…”

“…To this end, non-pharmaceutical interventions have been extensively used in the COVID-19 pandemic (62). Large-scale interventions have imposed high social and economic costs to societies worldwide (47,(63)(64)(65). As they are less disruptive than large-scale interventions, localized lockdowns can help reduce those costs and provide a more sustainable strategy over time (66).…”

Contribución de las organizaciones sociales “ollas comunes” a la alimentación de la población chilena en tiempos de pandemia por COVID-19

“…Treinta OC preparaban 120 (65-200) raciones como mediana (p25-p75). Sólo 12 OC indicaron perder raciones después de un almuerzo o cena, con una mediana (p25-p75) de 6 (5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11), siendo 100 raciones el máximo referido. En total, sumando almuerzo/cena y desayuno/once, las OC participantes entregaban Tabla 1.…”

“…Hoy en día, estas organizaciones han resurgido con gran fuerza como una forma de afrontar la escasez alimentaria de los hogares, generada por la crisis socioeconómica derivada de la pandemia, ocasionada por el virus SARS COV-2 3 presente en el país desde marzo de 2020 4 . Esta crisis ha acrecentado las desigualdades entre los distintos grupos socioeconómicos del país precarizando a la población de clase media, mientras que la población más vulnerable tanto económica como socialmente, se ha empobrecido aún más 5,6 . Según el Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas (INE), la estimación de la tasa de desocupación nacional para el periodo mayo a junio del 2020 fue 12,2%, la más alta desde 2010 7 .…”

Patterns of responses to COVID-19 in selected Latin American countries

“…However, if a person was illiterate, s/he was 2.66 16 Unfortunately, we couldn't find the same data for other Latin American countries. But see Ponce et al (2020) for the case of Ecuador, and for Chile, Gil and Undurraga (2020).…”