Ponderings
Are people with "essential jobs" -- water plant operators, Amazon drivers and warehouse workers, store clerks, firefighters, garbage collectors, etc., immune to Covid-19, or are we merely less frightened of it than those with the wealth or privilege to work from home?
The people with whom I deal daily have been shrugging at the pandemic since the first stay-at-home orders were issued, perhaps because staying at home has never been an option. If we wish to keep our jobs, we show up for work. I "worked from home" for about two weeks, but WFH actually meant sharing a cube-farm with the Streets and Wastewater staff because it would look bad if I went to Town Hall. I went to work every day. Out of sight, out of mind: they public *felt* better.
We gave up on masks after the third in our cramped space had a such a debilitating case that they weren't aware of it until they were tested to, for example, move their mother into a convalescent home. We were sharing cubes, computers, telephones, trucks, and kitchen space. We all assumed that we had been exposed at least twice, and adopted the attitude that if were were going to get sick, we would already have done so. And those of us that were infected were oblivious.
I've asked supermarket checkers, hardware store workers, contractors, drivers, and the nice people that deliver Best Beloved's medical cannabis. They all respond with variants of the same "Covid? Yes, and so what? Exactly what do you expect me to do about it?"
Workers in the City Public Works building still have not returned, but the field staff were never sent home for a single day.
What is responsible for the difference in attitude? As far as I can tell, it's privilege.
The people with whom I deal daily have been shrugging at the pandemic since the first stay-at-home orders were issued, perhaps because staying at home has never been an option. If we wish to keep our jobs, we show up for work. I "worked from home" for about two weeks, but WFH actually meant sharing a cube-farm with the Streets and Wastewater staff because it would look bad if I went to Town Hall. I went to work every day. Out of sight, out of mind: they public *felt* better.
We gave up on masks after the third in our cramped space had a such a debilitating case that they weren't aware of it until they were tested to, for example, move their mother into a convalescent home. We were sharing cubes, computers, telephones, trucks, and kitchen space. We all assumed that we had been exposed at least twice, and adopted the attitude that if were were going to get sick, we would already have done so. And those of us that were infected were oblivious.
I've asked supermarket checkers, hardware store workers, contractors, drivers, and the nice people that deliver Best Beloved's medical cannabis. They all respond with variants of the same "Covid? Yes, and so what? Exactly what do you expect me to do about it?"
Workers in the City Public Works building still have not returned, but the field staff were never sent home for a single day.
What is responsible for the difference in attitude? As far as I can tell, it's privilege.