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As for “in income categories greater than 2,500 euros, only 6% of people lost their income”, according to data from “Social Opinion”, the ENSP Covid-19 Barometer questionnaire that monitors the perception of Portuguese of the pandemic.
The study warns that “the economic consequences of the disease and confinement, such as unemployment or the reduction of income sources, can disproportionately affect the most vulnerable groups” and considers that the results obtained are “quite worrying”.
According to the study, the decline in income since the start of the pandemic “was not shared equally by different income classes, with an increasing loss in the lower categories.”
More than half (52%) of the respondents reported not having lost income, but in the group of people whose home earned between 651 and 1,000 euros, this percentage falls to 44%, increasing to 75% among those who receive more than 2,500 euros
“Preliminary data seems to indicate that covid-19 infection is markedly uneven, affecting more pronounced municipalities and countries that already have a more precarious socioeconomic profile and may even exacerbate pre-existing socio-economic vulnerabilities at the individual level,” he stresses.
In statements to Lusa, the researcher Joana Alves stated that “those who work in health inequalities already know from previous studies that there are systematic differences in health between people from different social levels.”
The barometer wanted to see if there were also inequalities in the distribution of the number of covid-19 cases at the municipal level in Portugal and in some European countries.
“In terms of results, we obtained three levels of evidence”, the first at the national level, in which it was observed that “the municipalities with the highest population density, with the highest unemployment rate, with the lowest average income and the highest Income inequality was also those municipalities that had the highest number of cases of covid-19, “said Joana Alves.
At the international level, it was confirmed that “the countries with the highest income inequalities and the highest unemployment rates were also those with the highest cumulative incidence of cases per 100,000 inhabitants.”
Finally, at the individual level, it was discovered that “the economic and social consequences of the pandemic are not being supported by the different households,” said Joana Alves, explaining that it is as if it were “a social ladder” in which those who “had the highest levels The lowest-income earners also suffered the greatest losses since the start of the pandemic. “
The study says that socioeconomic conditions may also have “a significant influence on the risk of infection,” and explains that “a lack of understanding in some population groups” about how the disease spreads can make it difficult to adopt measures such as labeling. respiratory, hand hygiene or the proper use of a mask.
On the other hand, precarious work and the difficulty of accessing social support can prevent people from having more care at home to protect themselves from the virus. “Jobs that cannot be done remotely” or “the need to continue doing small jobs to ensure subsistence” subjects people to increased exposure to the infection.
The study also indicates that municipalities with more doctors for every thousand inhabitants have a greater number of diagnosed cases compared to the rest.
For Joana Alves, “it is necessary to strengthen the countries’ capacity to organize themselves in the definition of joint health and economic policies to combat the pandemic,” so that “inequalities between countries with consequences for all do not worsen.”
