Study determines that 67% of Dominicans were exposed to COVID-19 infection through their work

SANTO DOMINGO. – A study on the impact of COVID-19 on the daily life of Dominican families where cases of COVID 19 occurred between 2020 and 2021, determined that 67% assumed the risk of contracting the virus due to their work.

The study was carried out by the Health Sciences Area of ​​the Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC), through the Master's Degree in Public Health and Epidemiology, with a sample of 1,200 families from the Dominican Republic in which there were cases of COVID, using a survey prepared by the Institute of Dominican Studies (DSI) of the University of the City of NY (CUNY), which was also applied to 1,000 Dominican families residing in cities in the United States with a large concentration of population of Creole origin.

Sociologist Ramona Hernández, director of the DSI; Dr. Pedro Luis Castellanos, research professor, and Eugenio Gómez, coordinator of the Master's Degree in Public Health and Epidemiology, of INTEC, respectively, presented the results of the research on the population interviewed in the Dominican Republic, in a meeting held in the Auditorium of the Social Security of the aforementioned university.

The results of the study in the Dominican Republic

According to the preliminary results of the investigation, only 45% indicated that they were able to remain isolated in their residence. The rest had to go out to work totally or partially during the years evaluated.

“A strong impact was found on the income of families affected by the epidemic. 50.6% reported that their situation worsened with the pandemic. 18.3% reported that they lost their job or main source of family income and that 51.8% of companies or self-employed workers suffered economic deterioration,” highlighted sociologist Hernández.

Likewise, 63% of families reported not having received financial assistance from the State. 53% had concerns about the availability of their food and 48% of these interviewed families reported having food shortages during that period.

57% of the members of the affected families reported emotional disturbances that they defined as “nervousness” and “anxiety.” And 38% report that they still feel these emotional disturbances.

Performance in schools and health services

Regarding school performance, 53% of the families studied stated that they did not have computer equipment. 68% reported many difficulties for students to follow distance courses.

Regarding vaccination, very good information was found: 83% reported that they had received 2 or more doses of the COVID vaccine and 93% were able to receive it less than half an hour away from their home or workplace. Less than 1% reported that they refused and would never accept these vaccines.

Regarding access to health services in 2020 and 2021, around 97% of those who requested laboratory tests for COVID obtained them, and around 90% of those who required hospitalization were treated. It is interesting to note that these access percentages were quite similar for both those affiliated with the subsidized regime and the contributory social security regime. “Which suggests that Family Health Insurance contributed in a relevant way to facilitate this access to services, even though many of these services were and are private,” said Castellanos.

However, mortality from COVID, in the families interviewed, had a clear socioeconomic gradient. Among those families whose income was two or less national average minimum wages, the death rate per thousand people was almost 4 times higher than that of those families with incomes greater than two national average minimum wages.

In summary, the findings and results show that, in Dominican families, the epidemic had a strong economic, social and health impact on the population, and this impact was greater in lower-income families. 84% of the families interviewed, in which there were cases of COVID, had income equal to or less than two national average minimum wages.

Membership in the Family Health Insurance was a moderating effect of this impact in terms of access to health services, but not so much in terms of the differential risk of death.

The results show a very successful vaccination effort, due to the high receptivity of the population, despite the anti-vaccine campaigns, and due to the population's accessibility to these vaccines, 84.3% of those interviewed had received 2 or more doses of vaccine and of them, 93% of the population was able to obtain them near their home or place of work.

This study provides knowledge that helps to better understand the behavior of the COVID epidemic in the country, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the responses developed by the health system, the State and society to the epidemic. In this way, it is expected to contribute to strengthening the national response capacity in the face of similar health situations.