Chiapas sex workers infected and die from Covid-19 don’t count say, activists

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Approximately 7,000 women provide sexual services in 7 municipalities of Chiapas, according to the organization Brigada Callejera.

30 sex workers died of coronavirus and 3,500 have been infected with this disease in Chiapas, announced the street brigade organization “Elisa Martínez” .A.C, which has provided care and help to this population for more than 20 years.

Elvira Madrid Romero, president of this association, indicated that the deaths were registered in Tapachula, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, San Cristóbal de las Casas, Huixtla, Comitan and Villa Comaltitlán.

She assured that all the women infected and lost the fight against this virus are not in the official statistics of the Ministry of Health, since none of them went to a hospital, much less they never took a coronavirus test, because they did not have the financial resources for it.

“The women who offer sexual services on the streets of the city and in other municipalities of Chiapas were forgotten by the authorities, we as an organization found ourselves in the need to make a trifold flyer to give them so that they would know what the symptoms of this disease are, how to protect themself and of course avoid getting infected”, she said

She explained that they made a CORONASUTRA to teach sex workers the safest potions to prevent them from contracting the virus, since the need and being the only source of income they did not stop working during the peak of the pandemic.

“Due to health continence and the lack of help from the authorities for sex workers, the Elisa Martínez association has increased its humanitarian aid by 300 percent, as women stopped earning up to 90% due to this disease”.

Madrid Romero mentioned that this data was obtained because they made a questionnaire to know how many women had this disease, how many died, how many had to stop working, and what needs they have.

“The truth for sex workers who perform the oldest job in the world, life is no longer the same since this disease appeared, changing the lives of everyone”, she stressed.

Finally, she asked the authorities to turn to look for these women who are going through a critical moment, and no authority has given them help since the health contingency began.

Source:elheraldodechiapas.com.mx

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