US workers faced harrowing year on pandemic front lines
- "It seemed like it went from zero to 100 in a matter of days," said Julie Mann, a midwife at a Boston-area hospital.
WASHINGTON: One year ago, workers across the United States learned they'd been divided into two categories: those who would work from home, and those who would have to keep showing up to workplaces where they risked exposure to Covid-19.
Matt Valentin was among the latter, and in the months that followed, the Starbucks cafe where he worked in Monroe, Michigan became an increasingly anxiety-ridden environment.
"From my perspective, it went from 'get these drinks and orders done as fast as possible' to 'do all of that, and try not to bring a deadly virus home to your vulnerable family,'" the 21-year-old said in an interview.
As Americans mark the one-year anniversary of the beginning of the pandemic that transformed how business is done in the world's largest economy, those whose jobs required them to show up to work as the virus raged told AFP of a year of fear and uncertainty.
"It seemed like it went from zero to 100 in a matter of days," said Julie Mann, a midwife at a Boston-area hospital.
"We didn't have (personal protective equipment), we didn't have testing. We didn't know who was infected, we didn't know if our colleagues were infected."
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.