COVID-19 pandemic and safety of taxi services: Looking beyond primary care

Baluja, Arushi; Ghosh, Amrita; Modi, Jyoti N.; Pal, Ranabir; Halder, Ajay; Shrivastava, Adesh; Agrawal, Amit

The COVID-19 pandemic is a lifetime experience of 'Living within a pandemic' for the vast majority world over. Public health principles based on equity should be at the core of world's response to it. Service professionals such as taxi/cab drivers are no exception. It is a challenge for them to establish mechanisms for making taxi services safer with regards to SARS COV2 spread, and thereby regain the confidence of stakeholders in this necessary public service. This requires a comprehensive planning taking into account the socio-economic stresses, psychosomatic health and other determinants, and yet being able to adapt and innovate for safer services. These considerations and decisions have to be based on available as well as emerging research evidence about this infection both in the lab and in the community. Targeted safety interventions that translate and apply research findings hold promise. While the course of the pandemic remains uncertain, life must find a 'new normal' and people need to get back to the business of regular living. The purpose of this review is to study the various risks to the stakeholders in taxi/cab services, and draft strategies for mitigating these risks from a theoretical and practical perspective.