COVID-19 IN LAC HIGH FREQUENCY PHONE SURVEYS RESULTS FIRST WAVE* May – June 2020 Alarming increase in food insecurity in Latin America. households report to reduce consumption as the main This implies not only skipping meals but also running coping mechanism. This is not a sustainable solution out of food. In Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, for a protracted pandemic. Honduras, Peru and Dominican Republic, 40 percent or more of their households report to have run out of Most countries lack comprehensive social assistance food since the lockdown. Prolonged deterioration in programs in place to combat the pandemic. There- nutrition has both short but also long term health and fore, there is ample room to extend public transfers-in economic effects. cash and/or food-to mitigate the impact of COVID-19. Countries report coverage of transfers between 12 and Unemployment is rising quickly and affected house- 53 percent of the population (St Lucia and El Salva- holds are losing their main source of incomes. In Co- dor, respectively). The coverage of these transfers lombia, Peru and St Lucia, more than 25 percent of fall in between those shares in the rest of countries occupied workers (aged 18 or older) report losing their (although in some of them only new transfers were jobs since the lockdown. In countries like Bolivia, Costa asked). Social assistance needs to continue to be Rica, Ecuador and Guatemala, that loss is close to 20 strengthened given the significant increase in vulner- percent. For most of all countries monitored around 70 able populations. percent of households report decreasing household in- comes. The resulting increases in poverty are likely to Despite a large rate of approval for governments’ in- take the region several years back in terms of its fight terventions, lack of financial support to population, against poverty and inequality. lack of enforcement or late response are the key area of public dissatisfaction. Costa Rica, Guatemala and There is an obvious need for speeding up public in- Paraguay are the countries with the highest levels of tervention in the areas of virtual learning and access satisfaction (close to 90 percent). Yet, it seems that to medical attention and medicines across most governments in the region need to do a better job ex- vulnerable households. In Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay plaining their responses to the population. and Peru some 30 percent or more of their households reporting to need medical attention during the lock- Unsurprisingly, there is a wide variation in abidance down did not receive it. With respect to education, with lock-down measures mandated across coun- most countries report virtual learning at home. A few, tries. In countries like Bolivia, El Salvador, Honduras however, such as Bolivia and Guatemala, report over and Peru over 90 percent of the population report to 10 percent of school age children not engaging in any respect and follow the lockdown. In other countries remote learning activity. like Chile, Costa Rica and Paraguay, that share is much lower (50 to 70 percent). Because of the high epide- Reducing food consumption is the main mechanism miological risks of not following the quarantine, these to cope with the crisis for most households across levels of noncompliance are really troublesome. the region. For most countries, around 20 percent of More detailed analyses will follow this note. *This brief was prepared by Paola Ballon, Jose Cuesta, Sergio Olivieri and Ana Rivadeneira, under the guidance of Ximena del Carpio, with the financial support from the Latin American and Caribbean Regional Vice Presidency. 1 www.worldbank.org /BancoMundial @BancoMundialLAC COVID-19 IN LAC HIGH FREQUENCY PHONE SURVEYS RESULTS FIRST WAVE* May – June 2020 Food security Access to health services Access to education Employment Income loss % households where adults % households that ran out had to skip a meal because HH member needed but was HH children have NOT been engaged in any % people who lost their % households that report a of food because of a lack of Country there was not enough money money or other resources NOT able to access medical education or learning activities since the employment during C-19 reduction of total income during or other resources treatment schools closed quarantine (18 years and over) quarantine (last 30 days) (last 30 days) Bolivia 31.4% 43.2% 37.4% 15.3% 17.4% 70.0% Chile 13.2% 17.8% 21.3% 4.1% 6.5% 53.9% Colombia 41.6% 43.8% 28.8% 3.3% 26.6% 71.7% Costa Rica 19.5% 29.7% 9.6% 3.1% 16.4% 63.1% Dominican Republic 38.2% 43.6% 27.2% 6.1% 15.7% 59.2% Ecuador 42.7% 50.2% 48.3% 2.6% 17.5% 73.8% El Salvador 31.6% 39.5% 25.8% 1.9% 16.2% 68.8% Guatemala 35.9% 46.3% 19.3% 9.8% 18.6% 69.9% Honduras 43.5% 52.5% 21.1% 7.8% 16.0% 68.1% Mexico 19.7% 23.3% 10.9% 2.1% 12.1% 60.0% Paraguay 23.2% 27.3% 28.7% 2.2% 13.8% 63.7% Peru 40.0% 47.1% 41.5% 2.8% 28.0% 81.4% St. Lucia n.a. 31.9% 1 22.1% 2 8.5% 2 28.0% 2 71.2% Notes 1. Weighted average for poor and nonpoor. 2. Weighted average for poor and 2. Weighted average for poor and nonpoor. 2. Weighted average for poor and nonpoor. nonpoor. n.a.: non available. n.a.: non available. n.a.: non available. Coping mechanisms Quarantine compliance Concerns Satisfaction with government policies Reasons for dissatisfaction: NOT SATISFIED with the Did NOT receive direct in-kind NOT all household members are % of people concerned about getting limited financial assistance OR Country Reduced food consumption or cash transfers quarantined COVID-19 or about household economy government's response to the does not enforce restrictions OR coronavirus crisis (%) late response by government Bolivia 20.2% 56.5% 9.6% 95.3% 28.6% 14.0% Chile 24.0% 80.5% 34.8% 96.1% 45.2% 56.2% Colombia 19.2% 74.4% 28.0% 94.2% 18.5% 46.2% Costa Rica 20.1% 61.7% 42.6% 93.5% 9.8% 55.4% Dominican Republic 17.9% 55.7% 32.1% 91.7% 25.5% 26.1% Ecuador 22.4% 81.8% 18.9% 92.3% 39.2% 30.8% El Salvador 20.7% 47.2% 12.2% 91.9% 10.0% 28.0% Guatemala 17.4% 80.8% 24.4% 87.3% 10.7% 19.0% Honduras 19.5% 65.4% 10.3% 88.8% 25.5% 24.9% Mexico 22.7% 86.9% 31.4% 86.9% 29.1% 27.7% Paraguay 16.8% 54.4% 38.4% 86.4% 9.6% 25.1% Peru 23.3% 76.1% 12.0% 96.4% 20.1% 47.2% St Lucia n.a. 88.0% 3 37.7% 4 n.a. n.a. n.a. Notes n.a.: non available. 3. At least one social program, total. 4. Report curfew or lockdown. n.a.: non available. n.a.: non available. n.a.: non available. Top tercile Intermediate tercile Bottom tercile Information not available or comparable Source: World Bank, High Frequency Phone Surveys 1st Wave, Washington DC. * Countries have been divided into 3 groups according to the values of each indicator. Darker shade indicates the 4 countries with highest values, lighter shade is for the 4 countries with the lowest values and medium shade is for countries with values in between. St. Lucia is not included in this classification because its indicators are not strictly comparable. 2 www.worldbank.org /BancoMundial @BancoMundialLAC