Employment Loss in Informal Settlements during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Chile

Socioeconomic disparities in the reopening of schools during the pandemic in Chile

The COVID-19 pandemic produced the most significant disruption in education in history. More than 190 countries suspended in-person instruction, affecting an estimated 1.6 billion students. The reopening of schools has been unequal. Schools in more affluent areas reopened sooner than poorer ones, exacerbating preexisting inequalities. There is limited research about the reopening processes in Latin America, where schools were closed for extended periods. Using a rich administrative dataset, we investigate the gaps in the resumption of in-person instruction in Chilean schools across socioeconomic groups in the fall of 2021. Schools with lower socioeconomic status were significantly less likely to offer in-person instruction. Disparities in reopening decisions were associated with administrative factors rather than economic or local epidemiological conditions.

Mobility in informal settlements during a public lockdown: A case study in South Africa

Many African countries quickly responded to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 with lockdowns of public life. Yet, many have large numbers of dense informal settlements where infrastructure is shared, houses are small, and residents live on low incomes. These conditions make complying with curfews extraordinarily difficult. Using pedestrian motion sensors installed throughout an informal settlement in Cape Town, South Africa, we study how the lockdown affected mobility in the evenings, early mornings, and during the nights between February 14 and June 18, 2020. We find that mobility was already decreasing in March prior to the start of lockdown by 23% in paths-about half of the overall decline-and by 19% in shared courtyards. Starting with the lockdown on March 27, pedestrian activity decreased by 48% in comparison to February 2020 across paths and by 61% in shared courtyards. We notice the biggest changes on weekends, normally key leisure times, and between 6:00 pm and 9:00 pm and between 6:00 am and 8:00 am, spanning typical commute hours, though these hours continue to have the most activity indicating some people continue to commute. The results show that mobility reduction is large, though generally smaller than reductions observed in high-income countries. We find that residents of informal settlements comply with state-mandated lockdowns to the best of their ability given the circumstances, but that awareness of COVID-19 with less strict regulations prior to lockdown also led to mobility declines.

Squatting behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic: The case of the informal settlement "Los Hornos" in Buenos Aires

The COVID-19 outbreak magnified territorial inequalities and increased vulnerability among low-income groups. Inhabitants in informal settlements are structurally disadvantaged in coping with communicative diseases such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite that, the pandemic has been accompanied by the proliferation of informal settlements. This study explores how the pandemic caused the squatting on new land with the case of "Los Hornos" in suburban Buenos Aires. We used a random forest algorithm and Google Earth Engine to estimate the rapid growth of a new informal settlement from a series of satellite images from early 2020. We also conducted semi-structured interviews with inhabitants to investigate the link between squatting and COVID-19. The study revealed that squatting on new land during the pandemic was mainly due to economic difficulties, overcrowding in existing informal settlements in the metropolitan center, and speculation in the informal housing market. This case is an example of how the most vulnerable groups bore the brunt of the pandemic, how the households in the existing informal settlement were behaving similar to those in the formal housing market (i.e., away from the urban centers), and how the outbreak had also been an opportunity for collective action of squatting a new land to materialize.

Mental Health and Related Factors Among Undergraduate Students During SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background

Mental health problems among undergraduates are a significant public health concern. Most studies exploring mental health in this population during the pandemic have been conducted in high-income countries. Fewer studies come from Latin American countries. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of depression, anxiety, stress, insomnia, and suicide risk, and explore the association with several relevant variables in personal, family, university, and SARS-CoV-2 pandemic domains.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted in Chile in a medium-size private University. Outcome variables were explored with valid instruments: Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21), Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), and the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS). Independent variables from personal (e.g., sex, age, sexual orientation, history of mental health problems, substance use), family (e.g., parental educational background, family history of mental health problems, family functioning), university (e.g., course year, financial support, psychological sense of university belonging, history of failing subjects) and SARS-CoV-2 domains (e.g., history of personal and family contagion, fear of contracting SARS-CoV-2, frequency of physical activity, keeping routines and social contact). Multivariable logistic regression models were conducted for each outcome, after univariable and domain-specific multivariable models. The significant variable at each step was selected if the p-value was ≤ 0.05.

Results

A total of 5,037 students answered the survey-the global response rate of 63.5%. Most of the students were females (70.4%) and freshmen students (25.2%). The prevalence of mental health problems was high: depression (37.1%), anxiety (37.9%), and stress (54.6%). Insomnia was reported in 32.5% of students, and suicide risk in 20.4% of students. The associated variables at personal domain were history of mental health problems, substance use, and sexual orientation; at family domain, family functioning and family history of mental health problems; at university domain, violence victimization and sense of belonging; and in SARS-CoV-2 domain, having a daily routine and fear to contracting SARS-CoV-2 by students themselves or others.

Conclusions

The prevalence of mental health problems is high among undergraduate students and some of the associated factors, such as victimization and a sense of belonging can be used in preventive interventions.