Read on Twitter
I spoke with a relative in Pennsylvania this weekend who is employed in the service industry. This weekend she worked an event for 100 people. There was no social distancing. She doesn't want to work these events but told me she has no choice.
There is no government stimulus to keep her afloat, and she is not willing to risk losing her home and minimal savings for the small chance she might get seriously ill. She is deeply frustrated with both democrats and republicans for not doing anything to help working people.
She is also frustrated w/ public health messaging. She and her colleagues who work in the restaurant industry are exhausted for being blamed for transmission while people hold large in home gatherings, transmission rages in the community at large, and they are losing money.
Also noted many colleagues would rather keep their home then send their kids to in person school. She asked me if any point during the pandemic I was at risk of losing paycheck and not making my bills, and asked me for just a minute to put myself in her position.
Bottom line, is we need to exhibit empathy for people whose industries/income are being decimated by pandemic. If we want to close business sectors to bring cases down, we also need to vigorously advocate for economic relief for those bearing brunt of regulations.
This is a structural issue that can be solved by the government. Closures without economic relief will only further embitter the public against public health measures and lead to more deaths. We don't want this.
Lastly, the fact that people are still holding mass gatherings despite exponential rises in cases tells me that a large segment of the public does not care about covid. Messaging is clearly not working and we need to put a lot more effort into effective communication strategies.
As an update to this thread, Philly has restricted restaurants to outdoor tables of 4 max with no indoor dining. No economic relief provided to those impacted as of yet. What is wrong with our government?
