The psychological impact of COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown on the migrant workers: A cross-sectional survey.

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant lockdown strategy has affected everyone (Tandon, 2020). However, the impact has been more prominent on the lives of the migrant workers/laborers. Lockdown brought the lives of migrant workers to a standstill, as neither have they had any work to do, nor were they able to travel back to their native places. This is compounded by the fact that some of them are not able to meet their daily requirements due to financial constraints. The very basic social distancing strategy could not be ensured in this population as they mostly reside in densely populated communities and rooms with minimal space per person. The migrants are more prone to social, psychological, and emotional trauma in such situations, emanating from fear of neglect by the local community and concerns about their families' wellbeing and safety in their native places. Migrants belong to the most marginalized sections of the society who are dependent on daily wages for their living, and in times of such distress, need sympathy and understanding of the community (Hargreaves et al., 2019). Immediate concerns the migrant workers face relate to food, shelter, health care, fear of getting infected or spreading the infection, loss of wages, concerns about the family, anxiety, and fear (Singh, 2020). Sometimes, they also face harassment and adverse reactions to the local community. Governments of India and state governments have been making efforts to address migrant laborers' issues by keeping them at shelter homes and providing them food. However, how much this is helping the migrants is not very well understood. Every day there are media reports of migrant workers travelling to their native places far off from their current location by walking or by cycling. Many have succumbed to death after reaching their destination or during their journey (Indian migrant workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020; Staff, 2020). There are also reports of a tussle between the different governmental agencies, concerning making these migrants reach their native places. All these factors are leading to severe mental distress among migrant workers. Accordingly, it is essential to understand the psychological issues of this marginalized group of people. Accordingly, this study aims to evaluate the mental health issues among the migrant workers living in shelter houses, provided by the administration because of COVID-19 to assess the immediate and long term psychological impact of isolation.