The World's New COVID-19 Epicenter Could Be the Worst Yet
The World's New COVID-19 Epicenter Could Be the Worst Yet
"[They] get by week-to-week during normal circumstances. If everything is shut down, how do they feed themselves and their families?" said AS/COA's Carin Zissis to CNN about informal workers.
Mexico City (CNN)–For months, Latin America watched the rest of the world suffer as the coronavirus spread. It is a spectator no longer.
"This is the new epicenter," said Dr. Marcos Espinal, director of communicable diseases at the Pan American Health Organization. Months after emerging from a relatively obscure Chinese province, the eye of this viral storm has firmly landed in Latin America...
Latin America has consistently been plagued with some of the world's worst economic inequality, leading to massive amounts of workers participating in the so-called informal economy.
These are workers that do not earn a formal paycheck and must go into the streets every day to ply their wares, be it selling tacos, shining shoes or cleaning houses. They're unlikely to have much, if any, savings to fall back on and they definitely don't get sick leave.
"These people get by week-to-week during normal circumstances," said Carin Zissis of the Americas Society and Council of the Americas. "If everything is shut down, how do they feed themselves and how do they feed their families?"...
