Quarantine: a luxury many cannot afford!

Covid-19

As the coronavirus pandemic grips the world, the economic situation is taking a hit. These are extraordinary times. Economies all over the world, including Pakistan, have come to a screeching halt. Pakistan’s economy is projected to face a loss of up to 4.64 percent in gross domestic product (GDP) because of disruptions in trade, both in imports and exports after the outbreak of COVID-19. Offices are shut down; main cities are under a lockdown and many people (who still have a job) are working from home. Like the rest of the world, the streets of Pakistan are silent as the majority of people are in quarantine, trying to stay safe. However, the quarantine or social isolation is a luxury not many cannot afford. The informal sector stands to lose the most, particularly the tens of millions of workers who rely on this cash-based sector to provide them with the bare-minimum income required to meet their daily needs. There are people living in slums, daily wage workers who have to go out in order to put food on the table.

Chanda works as a maid in an apartment building in Karachi. While most of the houses where she worked paid her a month’s salary, she continues to work at one house. Even during this critical time, she had chosen livelihood over her safety. For her life is inconsequential compared to the money she needs to support her family. “I know the threat of coronavirus. I know this virus will leave but I will not be hired again if I stop coming. If I lose this job as well, my family will starve. Hunger is much worse than anything for us. We are born to work because if we don’t, we won’t be able to eat. I cannot afford to be scared of the virus,” she shared.

Apparently, Chanda believed that she has lost her job at the other homes, which is why coming to this one house is even more important for her. When asked to stay at home and be safe, Chanda retaliated, “We live most of our lives facing some threat or other, what’s different now? This baji is kind enough to allow me to keep working at a time when no one else is. At least I will have some work after corona.”

For people like Chanda, tomorrow is just another day and she has to pull her family through no matter what. Unfortunately, her baji is least concerned for the health and safety of Chanda’s family and neither of her own family. It would have been prudent if the employer paid her in advance with a surety to be re-employed when things returned to normal. This would have protected both families.

However, this may be easier said than done for most. While there is a lockdown in the city, there are people like Chanda who are still forced to work at the hands of their fate. The scribe asked around if there were families still asking for their help to work during the quarantine. After a conversation with a few people, it became evident that while people were ‘isolated’, their help was coming to work.

A woman told that her driver came to clean the car but did not come inside the house. Her family was following all protocols of safety like using sanitizers and washing their hands. However, she didn’t seem too bothered that her driver was coming in contact with the car that the family used. If he was infected, there was still a possibility that her family could get infected too. And, if her family was already infected, he could come in contact with the virus and spread it elsewhere.

Baby is another one of the cases where she has no choice but to work. She is a sweeper who comes to collect garbage from the apartments nearby in the scribe’s area. While she knew that there was a ‘disease’ spreading, it didn’t faze her. “Baji, the poor are used to disease and death. The purpose of our life is to defeat hunger. We are already in a race with death. I have to survive today first to worry about tomorrow. People like me can only plan for a day, and then begin the cycle the next morning. I cannot stop working because I know there are many people who can replace me and I can’t afford that,” she said.

Baby could not understand what was so different about coronavirus compared to other diseases. She thought that maybe “coronavirus could be controlled with polio drops and why the government isn’t conducting a campaign like the polio campaign to tackle this”. The only concern that she had was if she would be provided with food. And if the government was taking the responsibility, how would they find her? “There are many women from my area who went to get food but there are usually more men in the crowd. The men get most of the things and by the time we get a chance, it is too late. No one listens to the women and they are usually pushed out of the lines or shooed away by the guards,” informed Baby.

In a recent coronavirus-related address to the nation, Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Imran Khan, stated that “25 per cent of Pakistanis cannot afford to eat two times a day.” As the government issues more stringent lockdown measures and forces people to stay home, many daily wage earners – from street-food vendors to shoe-shiners – now haven’t earned a rupee in weeks, and they’re going hungry. To combat this, The Ministry of Youth Affairs announced the ‘Corona Relief Tiger Force’. This force will be above political lines when it will come into shape. The force will become operational under a complete lockdown or emergency, and that the youth will be trained to supply rations to the families in need.

On an individual level, instead of rushing home after shopping to avoid being exposed to coronavirus, many Pakistanis are pausing outside to offer food, money or other charity to the many people on the streets and to anyone in need. However, with the duration of quarantine extending further, the help can begin to dwindle and more and more people will be left out of the loop. If this happens, these people will flood the streets despite the lockdown looking for food and other basics. The government needs to move faster and implement plans that it has been working on. For the sake of the people who are barely able to make ends meet, this is not a time for politics but to focus on the most vital work of saving people from starvation. It is a great time to formulate social network which reaches the most underprivileged people of society. If planned properly, these networks will be useful even after this crisis is over. The best way would be to work with those already working in smaller areas and reaching the most destitute people to save time and lives as every minute is crucial.