Opening red-light districts could lead to over 12,000 Covid-19 deaths: Harvard, Yale study projects

NEW DELHI: If red-light districts reopen, there could be over 4,00,000 infections and 12,000 Covid-19 deaths in a year among sex workers and people living in those neighbourhoods in India, as per projections by experts at Harvard Medical School and Yale School of Medicine. The study also predicts that the capital’s GB Road area could experience 2,774 cases, 386 hospitalizations, and 91 deaths in such a scenario.
The study makes projections for 21 red-light areas, spanning across Maharashtra, Delhi, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal.Experts who build the projection models have urged the government to keep red light areas shut as they could emerge as India's biggest hotspots.
“If red light areas reopen, lakhs of customers infected by sex workers can spread the infection across cities and the country causing a surge of cases. India would need 70 per cent more hospital beds by the peak if red light areas reopened instead of stayed closed. It would push India over peak medical capacity sooner,” the study states.
Maharashtra could be one of the worst affected states with 9,956 cases of infections projected.
Key findings of the study was published last week on the website of Code Red Coalition, which is a global group of doctors and researchers that is advising governments on how to prevent COVID-19 spread. Their website www.coderedcovid.org, explains that opening red light areas could increase deaths and hospitalisations multiple times over, depending on the state. It adds that other occupations at high risk are truck drivers who are some of the most frequent customers to red light areas. "Truck drivers can spread the disease to less infected areas causing new breakouts in stable areas," it adds.
"The combined features of a high volume of visitors, high contact rates, potentially higher infectivity of sex workers, and long-distance travel of clients across India may make the reopening of red-light areas a significant risk... Moreover, visitors to red-light areas include many truck drivers and migrant workers, who not only live locally but travel long-distances and can potentially spread the virus more broadly," the website states.
Dr. Sahayakan, a member of Code Red Coalition, said, “None of the protection measures like distancing, masks, or sanitising can effectively stop COVID-19 transmission during sex work. Sex work cannot be safely practiced in red light areas in India given their nature. It can result in many cases and deaths in sex workers and citizens”.
The study recommends that sex workers need opportunities to gain skills that provide employment in lower-risk jobs. Recent media reports show that some sex workers have begun exploring other employment options. In Andhra Pradesh, a collective has asked for an exit strategy for sex workers including “transitional housing, bank loans, and alternate employment”. The efforts to close India’s red-light areas and help sex workers find lower risk jobs would save many lives, it says.