Health April 8, 2020 | 11:19 am

The fight of delivery and taxi drivers to survive each day with fewer sales and clients after the quarantine

El pais.Uber Moto interview Darwin Garaty ./Pablo Matos 03-03-2020

Wandy Corporán is a young man who has only been working as a fast-food delivery for two days after being fired from a hardware store forced to reduce staff. And he has found a discouraging scenario in his new profession: the drastic reduction in sales during coronavirus quarantine.

Last Monday was his first day of work, and he only made four deliveries, compared to the more than ten delivery runs he used to make before the quarantine. In contrast, yesterday at noon, he had not made any, even though he depends solely on that employment to support his three children.

“I was encouraged to work on this because they had told me that there were a lot of profits, but from what I’ve seen, it was not the impression I got,” he says.

Sitting on his motorbike, Corporán says he has only received “a cover” from the social assistance programs that the government has implemented after taking measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus in the country.
“That cover is not enough for one to endure even two days because my family is five people; three children, my wife and I, so that is amazing,” says the young man amid co-workers who are in a similar economic situation.

Without hope

Darwin Gárate, a Venezuelan who arrived in the Dominican Republic last December, says he has no hope of receiving government aid because his delivery job is similar to that of a contractor. As of yesterday, he had only delivered six orders, when the usual thing for him is to distribute 13 or 14 orders by midday.

The Venezuelan begins work at 7:00 a.m. and finishes around 3:30 p.m. to avoid arrest by the authorities due to the daily 5 p.m.-6 a.m. curfew. However, Gárate prefers to take preventive measures against the coronavirus in Dominican soil instead of his native Venezuela due to the shortage of products that’s paralyzed the South American country.

Few taxi clients

For motorcycle taxi (“motoconcho”) drivers like Francisco Sánchez, measures of social distancing, and the reduction of the circulation of people represent a considerable reduction in their clientele. Of the more than 15 trips he used to make every day, yesterday, he had only been able to make two. However, he points out that on the best days within the quarantine, he can carry up to seven passengers from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. to avoid mishaps and breaking curfew.

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