The new coronavirus continues to spread in Bolivia, but they say they can take care of themselves.
With a transparent plastic suit that they wear over their underwear, chinstrap, mask and gloves, the sex workers assured that they are ready to return to work despite the fact that the government has asked them to suspend their work for three months to avoid more infections.
The lights of a dating establishment in the city of El Alto, a neighbor of La Paz, were on as a pair of sex workers showed the Associated Press their proposed protection protocol at a time when the country is experiencing an increase in contagions.
AP –
The local is a neighbor of 50 other similar establishments and all of them stopped working due to the quarantine established by the government of interim president Jeanine Áñez to face the pandemic.
Given the lack of income due to social distancing, these women managed to propose a series of security measures that would allow them to return to work, including the use of gloves and disinfectants for personal use, by the client, the bedrooms and the same establishment.
“This suit is not to have contact with the client,” explained a woman who identified herself as Luna, 23, who has three children.
AP –
“I am a single mom, I live for rent … It has been really very difficult, more than anything for my children, because I also have to bring them daily food. So I have tried to be as independent as possible, that they do not lack anything, go out and sell at streets and all that stuff. “
The Áñez government established a quarantine in March to prevent infections and on June 1 lifted restrictions in seven of the nine regions of the country, which meant the restart of some activities. However, restrictions were not lifted to establishments of this type or to those involved in cultural or entertainment activities, such as cinemas.
The Ministry of Health has so far reported 33,219 cases of the new coronavirus and 1,123 deaths.
Lily Cortez, representative of the sex workers, assured that since the quarantine the sector entered a crisis that is becoming more unsustainable every day, so she asked that the restrictions on their activities be lifted.
AP –
“The butcher (food vendor) of the butcher is all direct contact. They cannot restrict the work of sex workers in Bolivia, since it has been scientifically proven that there is no contagion by flow,” he assured. “Most of us are single moms, we have children, we live alone, we need to earn money.”
In Bolivia, sex work is not legal but is regulated by each municipality, which has regulations that prostitutes must comply with, such as carrying a health card stating that they do not have any sexually transmitted disease.
Cortez assured that his organization is made up of more than 70,000 affiliates nationwide.
– .
