"I prefer to get coronavirus than to stop working": the street vendor's perspective

During phase 2 of the COVID-19 pandemic in a Mexican City, informal street vendors (cases) and formal employees (controls) were interviewed. A total of 82.6% of street vendors preferred to expose themselves to the coronavirus than to stop working, compared with 18.4% of formal employees (adjusted OR...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of infection in developing countries 2021-11, Vol.15 (11), p.1603-1606
Main Authors: Delgado-Enciso, Josuel, Delgado-Machuca, Marina, Mokay-Ramírez, Karen A, Barajas-Saucedo, Carlos E, Romero-Michel, Jessica C, Fuentes-Murguia, Mercedes, Aurelien-Cabezas, Nomely S, Tiburcio-Jimenez, Daniel, Toscano-Velazquez, Jose A, Meza-Robles, Carmen, Hernandez-Rangel, Alejandra E, Walle-Guillen, Mireya, Delgado-Enciso, Osiris G, Guzman Esquivel, Jose, Rojas-Larios, Fabian, Zaizar-Fregoso, Sergio A, Martinez-Fierro, Margarita L, Rodriguez Sanchez, Iram P, Melnikov, Valery, Espinoza-Gomez, Francisco, Delgado-Enciso, Ivan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
City ordinances
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
COVID-19 - epidemiology
COVID-19 - transmission
Employees
Female
Health Behavior
Humans
Interviews as Topic
Male
Mexico - epidemiology
Middle Aged
Occupational Diseases - epidemiology
Pandemics
Poverty
SARS-CoV-2
Vendors
Workplace
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Description
Summary:During phase 2 of the COVID-19 pandemic in a Mexican City, informal street vendors (cases) and formal employees (controls) were interviewed. A total of 82.6% of street vendors preferred to expose themselves to the coronavirus than to stop working, compared with 18.4% of formal employees (adjusted OR = 19.4, 95%CI: 4.6-81.7, p < 0.001). Street vendors had 7 times less fear of dying from coronavirus (adjusted OR = 0.14, 95% CI: 0.03-0.5, p = 0.005) and showed a 16-times greater lack of real concern for the increase in cases in their community than the formal employees (adjusted OR = 0.06, 95% CI: 0.01-0.3, p = 0.002). Street vendors were the group with the poorest adherence to household and work area containment measures that continued to be in contact with others. The corresponding authorities must plan specific strategies that allow street vendors to survive economically, while at the same time, protecting community health.
ISSN:1972-2680
2036-6590
1972-2680
DOI:10.3855/JIDC.13276