Many workplaces are eager to reopen but many others will still hunker down and follow the advice of health experts. What happens to those still staying home when many others are now going to work? I worry that this class-based society will only deepen and those fortunate enough to make enough money working a job that allows them to work remotely will put them at an unfair advantage over those with frontline jobs. I say “them” not as a way to exclude myself – I’m very much included in that fortunate group.
The sad fact is that if you work(ed?) in retail before the stay-at-home orders began you are at a severe disadvantage when it comes to avoiding infection or having a good outcome if you wind up infected with a bad case. This is a thought that I struggle with daily. I’m fortunate enough to be able to cobble together enough acceptable work on a daily basis that earns me my full paycheck every two weeks. My wife is in the same boat. We’re fortunate, lucky, or whatever else you want to call it. We’re safer from infection and more stable financially than many others. We’re not home, food, or work vulnerable and don’t expect to be anytime soon. Yet there’s many, many, more in our country that are just the opposite.
We often indirectly pay these frontline workers on a regular basis by continuing to order from Amazon, other online retailers, and food delivery services many times a week. In some way I’m hoping that I’m supporting people that need money right now. I hope that I’m not encouraging people to do work that makes them feel unsafe or may make them sick. They’re selfish choices to order luxuries brought to our home these days, for sure, but maybe they also open up new opportunities for people that have lost their regular jobs. At least that’s what I tell myself.
Even if you are able to stay at home and shelter in place, if you do go out for a walk or go to the grocery store you’ll now be much more likely to encounter someone or something infected with coronavirus. Not going to work will not be as safe as it has been and we’ll all be at a greater risk for infection. How does this not just go right back to widespread increases in infection?
I understand the cabin fever and the desire to get things to return to normal. The problem is that nobody understands COVID-19 yet, why it affects people the way it does, and who is really most at risk for it. Normal is not normal anymore. Things are going to be very different for a long time. Sometimes it feels like I’m the only one that understands this.
There’s not enough testing, there’s no treatment, and we’re still at least a year away from a vaccine. How can we shelter at home for two months just to throw away this relative safety before infection numbers have peaked or there’s some way to treat or stop this sickness? It’s terrifying to think that our local and state governments are so excited to throw everyone back into the Petri dish of the workplace, restaurants, bars, and shops when we know this will cause even more avoidable sickness and death. I’m scared of going back to work even though my workplace and job are safer than many others.
But what’s the other option? It’s clear that we can’t keep up the current state of lockdown forever. Can we squeeze out another few months? Some people can. Some businesses can. Many cannot. Every day we stay home with most business closed we inch closer to an even worse unemployment crises just as we inch closer to better controlling the spread of this virus. There’s no good options here:
- Stay home, stay safe. More people lose jobs. Economy continues to crash. More people lose jobs and become food and home vulnerable.
- Open business. More people die. Economy recovers until things get even worse before inevitably crashing again.
I honestly have no idea what happens from here. I can’t imagine either of those possibilities happening, so it’s going to have to be a combination of the two. I just don’t know what this looks like other than seeing ever-increasing body counts. I fear we’ll just learn to live with some number of avoidable deaths. The poorest and most vulnerable will be hit the hardest and it’s just so sad.
Michael Singletary 