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All of us must join together to demand that governments and businesses take steps to protect these workers. (Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Protecting Our Vulnerable Front Line Workers
Protecting frontline workers and their families is a matter of both economic justice and racial justice.
Jul 09, 2020
The United States makes up less than 5 percent of the world's population. Yet we have 25 percent of the world's coronavirus cases -- and those cases are not distributed evenly among the population. It has been well documented that racial and ethnic minorities have sustained a disproportionate burden of illness and death when compared to white persons.
Centuries of racial structural discrimination have predictably led to communities of color being disproportionately represented in the lower rungs of the socio-economic ladder.To be clear, there is no evidence that racial and ethnic minorities have an inherently greater predilection of being infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus or dying from it when compared to white persons. A more accurate predictor of infection is poverty, and a higher likelihood of working at jobs that can't be done remotely. Centuries of racial structural discrimination have predictably led to communities of color being disproportionately represented in the lower rungs of the socio-economic ladder.
A recent study of a large health system in Louisiana observed that a preponderance of COVID-19 cases and mortalities were experienced by a minority of the health system's population, African Americans.
Statistical analysis, however, revealed that Black race was not associated with higher mortality rate when compared to white race. The higher prevalence of cases and mortality rates experienced by African Americans is more likely due to income disparities.
In San Francisco, researchers from the University of California San Francisco conducted a testing "blitz" of active COVID-19 infections in the Mission District, a neighborhood that is 55 percent Latinx and 34 percent white. Their results were staggering. Ninety-five percent of those who tested positive were Latinx. Not coincidentally, 90 percent of those who tested positive were workers who were not able to do their jobs remotely.
These results suggest that working outside of the home may be a risk factor for COVID-19 infection. This theory is also supported by a Journal of Epidemiology study that found counties with higher levels of unemployment had a lower prevalence of COVID-19.
Across the country, states are rushing ahead with ending social distancing measures even as COVID-19 cases continue to rise. In many states, workers lose eligibility for unemployment benefits if their employers reopen and ask them to come back.
That leaves people with no way to put food on the table or pay their rent except for returning to their jobs -- even if the jobs put them at high risk for contracting COVID-19.
An estimated 25 to 30 million front-line workers have underlying health conditions or live with someone who does. Members of this group, disproportionately people of color, are at highest risk of dying or becoming severely ill from COVID-19. Many of them have no access to sick leave or quality health care.
All of us must join together to demand that governments and businesses take steps to protect these workers.
The first demand is that employers provide the safest work environment, as evidenced by scientific studies developed to determine best practices, to lessen the risk of exposure to COVID-19. A top priority should be mandatory face coverings for both employees and customers.
It has been well established that asymptomatic and presymptomatic circulation of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is a major mode of transmission, especially indoors. Face coverings (or masks) are a simple, cheap, and effective intervention that protect both employees as well as customers from exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Another efficient means of lowering the risk of exposure to COVID-19 is physical distancing. The use of plexiglass to create a barrier between employee and customer is an excellent approach that will likely decrease transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and help to protect the employee.
Protecting frontline workers and their families is a matter of both economic justice and racial justice. Governments and businesses must act now to make every workplace as safe as possible from COVID-19.
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Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
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Dr. Sanjeev K. Sriram
Dr. Sanjeev K. Sriram is the host of "Dr. America," an innovative podcast about public policy and health justice on We Act Radio. He also writes about connections between health policy, inequity, and social determinants of health. Dr. Sriram completed his medical degree and his pediatrics residency at UCLA, where he served as Chief Resident at the Department of Pediatrics. In June 2009, he earned his Master's in Public Health after completing the Commonwealth Fund Mongan Fellowship in Minority Health Policy at the Harvard School of Public Health. He currently practices general pediatrics in southeast Washington, D.C.
Dr. Markalain Dery
MarkAlain Dery, DO, MPH, FACOI, is the Chief Innovation Officer and Medical Director of Infectious Diseases at Access Health Louisiana- the largest Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in Louisana with 39 clinics throughout the State. He is a practicing infectious diseases physician, epidemiologist, and hosts a daily 10 minute podcast called NoiseFilter which looks at COVID-19 news through the filter of social, economic and racial justice.
The United States makes up less than 5 percent of the world's population. Yet we have 25 percent of the world's coronavirus cases -- and those cases are not distributed evenly among the population. It has been well documented that racial and ethnic minorities have sustained a disproportionate burden of illness and death when compared to white persons.
Centuries of racial structural discrimination have predictably led to communities of color being disproportionately represented in the lower rungs of the socio-economic ladder.To be clear, there is no evidence that racial and ethnic minorities have an inherently greater predilection of being infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus or dying from it when compared to white persons. A more accurate predictor of infection is poverty, and a higher likelihood of working at jobs that can't be done remotely. Centuries of racial structural discrimination have predictably led to communities of color being disproportionately represented in the lower rungs of the socio-economic ladder.
A recent study of a large health system in Louisiana observed that a preponderance of COVID-19 cases and mortalities were experienced by a minority of the health system's population, African Americans.
Statistical analysis, however, revealed that Black race was not associated with higher mortality rate when compared to white race. The higher prevalence of cases and mortality rates experienced by African Americans is more likely due to income disparities.
In San Francisco, researchers from the University of California San Francisco conducted a testing "blitz" of active COVID-19 infections in the Mission District, a neighborhood that is 55 percent Latinx and 34 percent white. Their results were staggering. Ninety-five percent of those who tested positive were Latinx. Not coincidentally, 90 percent of those who tested positive were workers who were not able to do their jobs remotely.
These results suggest that working outside of the home may be a risk factor for COVID-19 infection. This theory is also supported by a Journal of Epidemiology study that found counties with higher levels of unemployment had a lower prevalence of COVID-19.
Across the country, states are rushing ahead with ending social distancing measures even as COVID-19 cases continue to rise. In many states, workers lose eligibility for unemployment benefits if their employers reopen and ask them to come back.
That leaves people with no way to put food on the table or pay their rent except for returning to their jobs -- even if the jobs put them at high risk for contracting COVID-19.
An estimated 25 to 30 million front-line workers have underlying health conditions or live with someone who does. Members of this group, disproportionately people of color, are at highest risk of dying or becoming severely ill from COVID-19. Many of them have no access to sick leave or quality health care.
All of us must join together to demand that governments and businesses take steps to protect these workers.
The first demand is that employers provide the safest work environment, as evidenced by scientific studies developed to determine best practices, to lessen the risk of exposure to COVID-19. A top priority should be mandatory face coverings for both employees and customers.
It has been well established that asymptomatic and presymptomatic circulation of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is a major mode of transmission, especially indoors. Face coverings (or masks) are a simple, cheap, and effective intervention that protect both employees as well as customers from exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Another efficient means of lowering the risk of exposure to COVID-19 is physical distancing. The use of plexiglass to create a barrier between employee and customer is an excellent approach that will likely decrease transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and help to protect the employee.
Protecting frontline workers and their families is a matter of both economic justice and racial justice. Governments and businesses must act now to make every workplace as safe as possible from COVID-19.
Dr. Sanjeev K. Sriram
Dr. Sanjeev K. Sriram is the host of "Dr. America," an innovative podcast about public policy and health justice on We Act Radio. He also writes about connections between health policy, inequity, and social determinants of health. Dr. Sriram completed his medical degree and his pediatrics residency at UCLA, where he served as Chief Resident at the Department of Pediatrics. In June 2009, he earned his Master's in Public Health after completing the Commonwealth Fund Mongan Fellowship in Minority Health Policy at the Harvard School of Public Health. He currently practices general pediatrics in southeast Washington, D.C.
Dr. Markalain Dery
MarkAlain Dery, DO, MPH, FACOI, is the Chief Innovation Officer and Medical Director of Infectious Diseases at Access Health Louisiana- the largest Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in Louisana with 39 clinics throughout the State. He is a practicing infectious diseases physician, epidemiologist, and hosts a daily 10 minute podcast called NoiseFilter which looks at COVID-19 news through the filter of social, economic and racial justice.
The United States makes up less than 5 percent of the world's population. Yet we have 25 percent of the world's coronavirus cases -- and those cases are not distributed evenly among the population. It has been well documented that racial and ethnic minorities have sustained a disproportionate burden of illness and death when compared to white persons.
Centuries of racial structural discrimination have predictably led to communities of color being disproportionately represented in the lower rungs of the socio-economic ladder.To be clear, there is no evidence that racial and ethnic minorities have an inherently greater predilection of being infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus or dying from it when compared to white persons. A more accurate predictor of infection is poverty, and a higher likelihood of working at jobs that can't be done remotely. Centuries of racial structural discrimination have predictably led to communities of color being disproportionately represented in the lower rungs of the socio-economic ladder.
A recent study of a large health system in Louisiana observed that a preponderance of COVID-19 cases and mortalities were experienced by a minority of the health system's population, African Americans.
Statistical analysis, however, revealed that Black race was not associated with higher mortality rate when compared to white race. The higher prevalence of cases and mortality rates experienced by African Americans is more likely due to income disparities.
In San Francisco, researchers from the University of California San Francisco conducted a testing "blitz" of active COVID-19 infections in the Mission District, a neighborhood that is 55 percent Latinx and 34 percent white. Their results were staggering. Ninety-five percent of those who tested positive were Latinx. Not coincidentally, 90 percent of those who tested positive were workers who were not able to do their jobs remotely.
These results suggest that working outside of the home may be a risk factor for COVID-19 infection. This theory is also supported by a Journal of Epidemiology study that found counties with higher levels of unemployment had a lower prevalence of COVID-19.
Across the country, states are rushing ahead with ending social distancing measures even as COVID-19 cases continue to rise. In many states, workers lose eligibility for unemployment benefits if their employers reopen and ask them to come back.
That leaves people with no way to put food on the table or pay their rent except for returning to their jobs -- even if the jobs put them at high risk for contracting COVID-19.
An estimated 25 to 30 million front-line workers have underlying health conditions or live with someone who does. Members of this group, disproportionately people of color, are at highest risk of dying or becoming severely ill from COVID-19. Many of them have no access to sick leave or quality health care.
All of us must join together to demand that governments and businesses take steps to protect these workers.
The first demand is that employers provide the safest work environment, as evidenced by scientific studies developed to determine best practices, to lessen the risk of exposure to COVID-19. A top priority should be mandatory face coverings for both employees and customers.
It has been well established that asymptomatic and presymptomatic circulation of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is a major mode of transmission, especially indoors. Face coverings (or masks) are a simple, cheap, and effective intervention that protect both employees as well as customers from exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Another efficient means of lowering the risk of exposure to COVID-19 is physical distancing. The use of plexiglass to create a barrier between employee and customer is an excellent approach that will likely decrease transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and help to protect the employee.
Protecting frontline workers and their families is a matter of both economic justice and racial justice. Governments and businesses must act now to make every workplace as safe as possible from COVID-19.
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