ABSTRACT
Background: The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has grave implications worldwide. Workers in small scale industries like fisheries forms a vulnerable group without social security/recognised labour rights Objectives: To assess the physical, mental and socio- economic impact of COVID-19 among fishermen community from coastal area of Karnataka 2. To understand the challenges faced and coping mechanism adopted to mitigate the impact Methodology: This community based mixed methods study was conducted among 138 participants from a fishermen community in coastal Karnataka. Quantitative data included sociodemographics, COVID-19 diagnosis, treatment, related expenses and DASS -21 questionnaire. Qualitative data was collected through 3 Focus Group Discussions and 7 Key informant Interviews till data saturation. Result(s): A total of 138 participants (quantitative 107 and qualitative 31) were included. Majority of the participants were males (70.1%), belonged to age category of 46-60 years (37.4%), nuclear family (71%) and were from low socioeconomic status (79.4%). COVID-19 appropriate behaviour was found to be poor among participants with only 36% using masks, 24.3% washing hands and 10.3% maintaining social distancing. Among 107, 51 (47.7%) participants had probable COVID-19 symptoms. However only 7 (10.9%) had tested for COVID-19 with test positivity rate of 57.1%. Two participants were admitted in hospital with mean hospital stay of 7 days. According to DASS-21, 20.6%, 15.9% and 9.3% screened positive for depression, anxiety and stress respectively. Nealy 90% lost jobs and more than 75% reported to have financial difficulties. Major challenges included loss of livelihood, inaccessibility to health care, repayment of loans, stigma related to Covid-19 and meeting educational expenses of children with one drop out from college. Strategies to cope up with financial difficulty included borrowings, pawning and selling assets at individual level. Activities of local self-help groups in the community and grass root level marketing strategies were highly successful in mitigating the impact as a community. Conclusion(s): COVID-19 has affected fishermen community to a large extent. This understanding will enable to implement need-based intervention strategies and help in disaster preparedness among this population.