COVID-19 in working-class neighborhoods of two Argentine cities

Abstract This paper presents a synchronic analysis of the diseases during the emergence of COVID-19, the management and impact of the lockdown, and how the media narrated these events in working-class neighborhoods of the metropolitan areas of Buenos Aires and Gran Resistencia from March to November 2020. We resorted to quantitative methods on secondary sources to describe poverty and syndemics and conducted week-by-week ethnographic and media research on 38 neighborhoods with water shortages and critical overcrowding. As a result, COVID-19 syndemically emerged with dengue, measles, and tuberculosis, and the preventive measures exacerbated institutional and gender violence, the Werther effect, and the neglect of other illnesses. Ethnography revealed syndemics with noncommunicable diseases and the influence of structural violence on health. The media analysis shows interest in the districts associated with the fear of contagion, but they disappear from the media agenda once dispelled.

摘要 本研究对2020年3月至11月新冠疫情（COVID-19）暴发期间的疾病流行态势、封控措施的实施及其影响，以及阿根廷布宜诺斯艾利斯大都市区与大雷西斯滕西亚大都市区工人阶级社区的媒体叙事展开共时分析。本研究依托二手资料运用定量方法刻画贫困与综合征流行病（syndemics）现状，并针对38个存在水资源短缺与严重过度拥挤问题的社区开展逐周民族志与媒体调研。研究结果显示，新冠疫情与登革热、麻疹、肺结核形成综合征流行病叠加态势；防疫措施则加剧了制度性暴力、性别暴力、维特效应（Werther effect）以及对其他疾病的忽视。民族志调研揭示了综合征流行病与非传染性疾病的共存态势，以及结构性暴力对民众健康的深层影响。媒体分析表明，媒体曾聚焦与病毒传播恐慌相关的社区，但一旦恐慌消解，这些社区便会从媒体议程中淡出。