Friday, April 3, 2020

“Stay the Fuck Home!”



            My brother, a custodial worker at a hospital, falls into the “essential worker” category. He earns less than a livable wage. He reports to work during natural disasters almost annually as he lives in the Houston area. He will continue to work through the COVID-19 epidemic until he gets sick. I worry that he may die if that happens.
            My nephew works at one of Texas’s largest grocery chains, HEB. His salary, also, doesn’t come anywhere what it should for him to report for work during an epidemic of this scope. Of course, he’s there extra hours so the rest of us can have the supplies we need to stay home. That means he’s exposed through every person who walks into the store.
            Every one of us has friends or family members who continue to work because of their essential occupations. For me, it’s important to give these people as much of an edge as possible. If they must be exposed to carriers of COVID-19, let it be in as controlled and limited way as possible.
            If you follow directives and stay home, you limit your contracts to only a few people on a daily basis. If you are the designated shopper, restricting the people you see means that you help limit the number of contacts my family members come into contact with, too.
            If you have a governor that’s not issuing sensible and safe guidelines that don’t have an economic drive (like suggesting our elderly should be willing to die to keep the economy going for this next generation), look to the states harder hit by COVID-19 and follow those guidelines.
            If you have a mercenary minister who continues to push you into church services, find another church. For years many of my religious friends have claimed that their beliefs aren’t attached to a building—that they can pray and worship at any place and time. Now’s the time to prove it!


            Stay safe for your family and stay safe for mine.


Copyright 2020 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman

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