The obligatory nature of covid certificate, that from midnight this Friday it will be mandatory to enter the bars, restaurants, gyms and residences from Catalonia, has revealed a reality that discriminates, above all, against the elderly: the digital divide. Many elderly people do not have internet or a ‘smartphone’, and do not have the technological skills necessary to access the La Meva Salut website or the website vacunacovid.catsalut.gencat.cat, from which the document can be obtained. This digital divide also affects immigrant people that, for linguistic reasons, are left out of the system.
This has brought with it, in recent days, long lines at some primary care centers (CAP), again saturated by the sixth pandemic wave, to get the certificate. The Ministry of Health asks people not to go to the CAP to request this certificate, although it clarifies that, in case someone needs it, they can go to the vaccination population points for document printing. This Thursday the ‘conseller’ Josep Maria Argimon It has limited itself to asking citizens for “solidarity” and “co-responsibility” to help those who suffer from the digital divide, but it has not given any other solutions except to enable another website (that of COVID vaccines) to access the COVID pass.
The third sector asks Salut to send the document by post
However, many entities regret that, since the digital certificate has become mandatory, it is not the Administration itself that facilitates its obtaining. One option would be, for example, to send it printed by post mail to a certain population sector. And they criticize, above all, what discriminatory of this situation.
“The digital divide affects the most vulnerable older people and that is a absolute social exclusion phenomenon“, complaint Hi Camps, head of the area of older people of the Oak Foundation, that attends to more than 600 vulnerable older people of all Barcelona. “Our users are very vulnerable. They hardly go out and do not need the pass to go to the restaurant, the cinema or the theater. But they do need it, for example, to go to our School of Aging “, says Camps. The entities that organize this school ask the CAP to print the document for them.
Many other areas
Camps warns that the digital divide is not only present in the covid passport, but “in all areas of those older people who do not have an internet connection.” “There are many other procedures that are done online: ask for a medical appointment by La Meva Salut, aid procedures such as social bonus for electricity or water, the aid for very low incomes or to pay the rental. Or the recognition of degree of dependency: How can they request it if one of the things they have to present is the register, which is requested online? “, He points out. The Fundació Roure helps these people with all these procedures, but warns that this” social exclusion ” it is “a form of mistreatment”.
72% of Amics de la Gent Gran users only have a landline at home
72% of the entity’s users Friends of the Elderly, that fights against the social isolation of the elderly, they only have a landline at home. It was the only communication channel they had during the confinement of 2020. “The vast majority of our people are marked by the digital divide, they do not have access to the internet and they cannot download the covid certificate,” he says Albert Quiles, director of the foundation that serves a total of 2,000 people. The volunteers of this entity are also accompanying the elderly to the CAPs to obtain the covid certificate. “We already know that Salut recommends not to go, but Salut does not take into account the digital divide. It would be perfect if you sent it by post. If it is mandatory, the Administration must provide it to that part of the population that cannot access it, “says Quiles.
Social response
Thus, given the abandonment of the Administration, it is the entities themselves that are responding to the problems generated by the digital divide. The Neighbors Association of Ciutat Meridiana, one of the poorest neighborhoods in Barcelona, has already printed 20 covid certificates for your neighbors. The same is done by the ‘casals’ that are part of the Federació d’Associacions de Gent Gran de Catalunya (Fatec). “Yesterday we had a meeting with 50 ‘casals’ from all over Catalonia and we asked the presidents to make available an accompaniment to help these people download the certificate,” he explains Josep Carné, president of Fatec. As he explains, More than 40% of the homes where only people over 65 live do not have internet. “This is not our job, but it should be done by the Administration,” he adds.
More than 40% of households where only people over 65 live do not have internet
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The communication member of the Catalan Society of Family and Community Medicine (Camfic), Jordi Mestres, It also points out that the need for the covid pass “has come very suddenly” and that has led many people to approach the CAPs to request it. “This is a added work “, He says. He believes that Salut should enable points in libraries or in town halls to obtain this document.
The CAP Gòtic, For example, he is one of those who began to see how the queues increased since on November 22, Salut announced the extension of the covid certificate. “Many older people come to ask for it. The queues have intensified. Our center is small and this may be why any urgency escapes us “, warns Meri Torrelles, CAP administrator. Torrelles calls for “more social and community support” so as not to further collapse primary care.
Reference-www.elperiodico.com